COUNCIL planners are getting tough with businessman Jeremy Tyrrell and have ordered him to reveal his plans for Roswell Lakes. They have demanded Mr Tyrrell comply with a Planning Contravention Notice, which gives him just 21 days to lay his plans out in

COUNCIL planners are getting tough with businessman Jeremy Tyrrell and have ordered him to reveal his plans for Roswell Lakes.

They have demanded Mr Tyrrell comply with a Planning Contravention Notice, which gives him just 21 days to lay his plans out in the open or face legal action.

Any information handed over will allow planners to determine if a stop notice or enforcement notice should be served.

He has also been served with a Tree Preservation Order.

The moves come after East Cambridgeshire District Council planners visited the lakes several weeks ago and discovered that Mr Tyrrell had dug a trench and constructed a track without permission.

But campaigners fighting to protect the lakes are concerned that council officers are not insisting Mr Tyrrell, who runs Jalsea Marine and also owns Ely's Cathedral Marina, puts in one planning application for the entire work.

Instead, he has been advised that the work can be considered in stages and the first application could include only small changes to the site and retrospective planning.

They are also worried that Mr Tyrrell has been granted permission to lay service cables in the trench on the site before filling it in on health and safety grounds.

"I find it utterly mind-boggling," said Andrew Balmford from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Ely. "Both these issues worry me deeply.

"This is like giving the green light for development by stealth. This is like a major motorway being planned and the public getting to see one kilometre at a time without having any idea where it is going.

"All we want is a fair fight. We want to get the whole thing out in the open and let it be weighed up under planning law and allow the public to comment under the democratic process."

East Cambridgeshire District Council's planning committee was due to be updated on the situation at Roswell Lakes at its meeting yesterday (Wednesday).

Council head of planning Giles Hughes said: "We have been encouraging Mr Tyrrell to put in comprehensive planning applications. We wouldn't want him to deal with the retrospective works in isolation. The trench and services would make no sense on their own.

"But he has the authority to say how he plans his applications. That is his decision and we will have to deal with every application on its merits.

"We have asked broader questions so that we can understand what his plans are for the site and we have set up a programme of regular meetings with Mr Tyrrell. He has been very co-operative in the last couple of weeks."

A public meeting about Roswell Lakes will take place on Tuesday, at 7pm, at Ely Community College.

Mr Tyrrell refused to comment on the latest developments.