AN Ely businessman has been fined �12,000 this week for ignoring an enforcement notice and failing to remove construction work at a protected wildlife site on the edge of the city. Jeremy Tyrrell, director of Ely based company Jalsea Marine Services, was

AN Ely businessman has been fined �12,000 this week for ignoring an enforcement notice and failing to remove construction work at a protected wildlife site on the edge of the city.

Jeremy Tyrrell, director of Ely based company Jalsea Marine Services, was told by magistrates on Tuesday that the company would have to foot the bill for ignoring an enforcement order issued by East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC).

Handing down the ruling, magistrate Hamish Ross, told Mr Tyrrell that the bench accepted that there were mitigating factors in support of the decision not to carry out the works but no reasons compelling enough to justify the decision completely.

"We have listened carefully to the arguments of both parties but in the bench's opinion the terms of the enforcement notice were clear and the work should have been carried out by the company," said Mr Ross.

"The bench therefore fines Jalsea Marine Services a total of �7,000 with a contribution of �5,000 court costs."

The case centred around a series of building works carried out by Mr Tyrrell's company at the Roswell Pits site, near Kiln Lane, immediately to the south of the city.

The pits were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 2009 by Natural England and were therefore afforded protection from any building development by law.

Despite the ruling however, the court heard that Mr Tyrrell's company had started work laying cabling and constructing large concrete pads on the site. ECDC objected and issued an enforcement notice in November 2008 , demanding that the works be removed.

Magistrates were told that a subsequent appeal against the enforcement notice was rejected by the planning inspector, who ordered Mr Tyrrell's company to remove the works by October 1 2009.

The October deadline came and went without the works being removed and Jalsea Marine Services, which is based on Ely's Waterside, was served with a court summons.

Speaking at the hearing, Mr Tyrrell's counsel said the breach of the notice by the company had not been a wilful one but had come because of ongoing high court proceedings involving the designation of the pits as SSSI. He also highlighted to the court that no environmental damage had been caused by the construction works.