Bexhill's infamous '˜junk yard' garden is cleared

Rother District Council officers moved in to clear piles of rubbish and debris from the front garden of Anthony Hamilton’s home in Southcourt Avenue on Wednesday (August 3).

The 76-year-old has twice been hauled before the courts for ignoring an enforcement notice issued in 2013 to clear rubbish strewn across the garden.

Officers spent six-and-a-half hours at the property, filling a 40-yard skip with rubbish including bags of compost, household waste, concrete blocks, paving slabs and rotting wooden beams which had been stored in his front garden. They also uncovered a rusting and broken bicycle, a cast iron lamp post and a copy of the Yellow Pages from 1994.

Cllr Ian Hollidge, RDC cabinet member for environment, transport and Bexhill town centre, said: “Mr Hamilton has been given ample opportunity to resolve this matter over the last three years but has stubbornly refused to do so.

“We all have a responsibility to our neighbours to ensure our property is kept in a reasonable condition, and it’s frankly unacceptable that residents have had to live for so long with a garden resembling a junk yard on their doorstep.

“Having consistently failed to comply with the order, landing himself with two court appearances and fines and court costs of more than £3,000 as a result, he left us with no option but to take action.”

Hamilton was issued with an enforcement notice to clear the garden under the Town & Country Planning Act in May 2013.

He was ordered to pay a £750 fine, court costs of £1,104 and a £75 victim surcharge at Hastings Magistrates’ Court in July 2014 after admitting failing to comply with the notice.

He was back in court in August last year, when he was given a 12-month conditional discharge after being tried and convicted of the same offence.

He was also ordered to pay £1,366 to RDC in court costs and a victim surcharge of £15, making a total bill of £3,310 from his two appearances before the bench.

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