An Angus egg farmer who blamed “misplaced enthusiasm” for ignoring a council enforcement order has been fined £13,000.
Angus Dowell co-runs the contentious 64,000-chicken Summerhill Eggs at Cononsyth Farm near Arbroath with his father and sought to expand their operation.
Development there has been vigorously opposed by a local protest group, racking up scores of objections from neighbours.
Dowell was once accused of trying to bribe opponents to his enterprise with potatoes.
Angus Council eventually granted conditional planning permission but in a bid to meet supermarket demands, Dowell started work before conditions were met, including relating to nearby roads.
He was served with an enforcement notice but that did not deter the 29-year-old businessman.
His “disobedience” in prioritising honouring supermarket contracts landed him with the heavy fine and a criminal conviction.
‘Misplaced enthusiasm’
At a sentencing hearing at Forfar Sheriff Court, Dowell’s solicitor Kevin Clancy said: “What I hope comes through is we do have a remorseful accused.
“These are matters that he has taken on board. Lessons are to be learned.
“I think I can say that this is a development that was well received… proposals were viewed at least relatively positively by the local authority.
“The delay in obtaining permission to construct passing places is probably the crux of this issue.
“Mr Dowell misplaced enthusiasm to get on with his operation.
“Mr Dowell accepts that with the benefit of hindsight, contracts shouldn’t have been entered into.
“He was faced with a choice… the wrong choice was made.
“Were this to happen again, Mr Dowell recognises time would need to be taken.”
Mr Clancy stressed his client’s enforcement breach related to a development which now exists as planned.
He added that this month, Angus Council and Sepa visited the site and were satisfied all conditions are now met.
He added: “There’s been no lasting harm. What we now have is precisely what was envisaged by the planning development.
“It’s really a matter of timing.”
Five-figure fine
Dowell, of West High Street in Forfar, pled guilty in March to breaching the council enforcement notice between June 12 and November 3 last year.
His father John Dowell, 61, and the company itself, Cononsyth Farms Ltd, had not guilty pleas accepted.
Sheriff Mungo Bovey fined him £13,000, plus a £975 victim surcharge.
Dowell, a 50% shareholder in the egg farm, was told his paltry offer of weekly payments of between £50 and £75 was unacceptable and the sheriff ordered full payment within six months.
Summarising a sizable dossier of mitigation, the sheriff said: “The contract for the eggs was pressing and this conduct was necessary in order to honour the contract with the supermarkets.
“It is a gain from zero to 64,000 hens – that’s quite a step up.
“If you’re told to stop… then that’s what matters.
“It’s not only the impatience he’s showed in starting, it’s the disobedience he showed in continuing it when he was told not to.
“It’s a matter of principle that you have to comply with an enforcement order.”
Reduced fine due to plea
Addressing Dowell directly, the sheriff said, having heard the mitigation, he was opting for the lowest of three fines he had in mind.
“However, that is still a substantial financial penalty.
“In reaching that, I have in your favour the fact that you are remorseful and there has been no lasting harm done in the sense that you have not constructed something that wasn’t due and you have not knocked down anything that was not due.
“The fact that you persevered very soon in the face of an enforcement notice… coupled with what is clearly, even in its first year a very reasonably profitable enterprise, leads me to fine you £20,000.”
This figure was reduced to £13,000 due to Dowell’s plea of guilty at the first opportunity.
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