South Manchester golf club fined £10k

‘A south Manchester club has been fined for failing to comply with a planning notice to remove a mobile phone mast and a diesel generator on the course.

Northenden Golf Club landed in court because the mast, which belonged to a telecoms company, remained in place for a year after planning officials ordered it should be removed.

A temporary mobile phone mast and generator were first erected on the course on the banks of the River Mersey in March 2018 under ’emergency development rights’, according to Manchester City Council.

But they should have been removed by September 2019 when the emergency rights ended. A subsequent planning application to retain the mast at the site for a further twelve months was refused by the council, according to the town hall.

A ‘planning enforcement notice’ was issued to the golf club by Manchester City Council in July 2020 which ordered the club to switch off the generator and remove the mast by October 1, 2021.

But council officers observed the generator still in operation and the mast still in place nearly six months after the deadline passed, according to the council, prompting the local authority to launch a prosecution.

The equipment itself was owned and operated by a mobile telecommunications company, Mobile Broadband Network Limited, which was fined £40,000 last year for failing to comply with the planning notice. The sentencing court heard said that the smoke from the generator caused harm to nearby neighbouring residents.

The mast and generator were finally removed in October 2022, three years after the emergency period expired and one year after the enforcement notice should have been complied with, according to the council.

The golf club pleaded not guilty at a hearing at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court in October last year, and argued that they did not have physical control of the mast or generator and therefore were unable to comply with the enforcement notice.

The council, in a statement, say that although the judge agreed that the club did not have physical control of the mast and generator, they ‘had not done everything expected of them to ensure the notice was complied with’.

The judge found that the golf club, as landlord, did not instigate legal proceedings against the telecommunications company and therefore found them guilty of not complying with the enforcement notice, say town hall officials.

On Wednesday (February 28), the golf club was handed a fine of £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,500 towards the council’s costs.

Following the hearing, Coun Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: “Whilst it has taken some time for this case to be finally resolved, in total, two companies have been ordered to pay £50,000 in fines for the part they played in failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice. I hope that this sends a message that the council takes planning regulations seriously and will take firm action when appropriate – particularly in cases where there is clear harm being caused to the wellbeing of local residents.”

Northenden Golf Club has been contacted for comment.’