A SCRAPYARD boss operating without planning permission in a protected coastal area claims council chiefs have acted too late to close him down.

At a public inquiry which started yesterday, Dean Fewings argued legal action ordering him to shut down his scrap business was void, because it came more than a decade after he started it.

Mr Fewings, 41, who runs Fewings Services from his green belt home at Pudsey Hall Farm, Canewdon, was given three months by Rochford District Council to stop running the car breakers and scrapyard. He was told to turn it back into farmland in December 2005.

There have also been numerous complaints from neighbours in Pudsey Hall Lane about heavy lorries, noise, pollution and smoky fires.

The business is in a coastal protection zone and part of the River Crouch special landscape area.

However, under planning laws, if a landowner proves an unauthorised use began ten years or more before the legal action, they can get a lawful development certificate.

The former pig farmer said he moved to the house in 1993 and traded scrap and industrial vehicles from the outset.

Mr Fewings spoke under oath at the request of planning inspector Lucy Drake.

He said: "I bought it to run as a farm and run other bits of my business.

"I was a general dealer doing plant and machinery and I started to export."

The inquiry was told he bought, sold, repaired and broke industrial vehicles, producing scrap since 1993.

Business invoices and adverts dating back to March 1995 showing the sale of JCBs, mini diggers and pigs from the site were produced to show the length of trading.

Old photographs showing scrap and machinery on site were also produced at the hearing.

The inquiry was told anonymous letters of objection had been sent to the district council from worried residents.

A small number of residents were at the hearing, but did not ask to speak.

The hearing continues, with the council expected to give evidence tomorrow.

Juan Lopez, representing the council, said evidence which showed Mr Fewings's claims were not credible would be produced.

Pudsey Hall under scrutiny...again

PUDSEY Hall Farm is no stranger to headlines.

In December last year, owner Dean Fewings was fined £5,000, with £15,000 costs, after pleading guilty to illegally burning scrap and waste without an Environment Agency licence. His business, Fewings Services, had to pay a further £15,000.

The current public inquiry, which is expected to end on Friday, also heard in 1999 the farm house was destroyed by a fire believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.

The inquiry is the first of a series of hearings at the Civic Centre in Rayleigh, related to other enforcement orders served by the council on Mr Fewings.

Next week, the inspector will hear appeals by Mr Fewings against orders to remove a number of unauthorised residential caravans, where scrap workers are believed to live.

An inquiry in late 2006 found in Mr Fewings's favour, but the decision was later quashed, leading to the latest hearings.