Man told to get rid of 'landscape blot' scrap cars

A man has been ordered to get rid of his "scrap" car collection at a Herefordshire farm and holiday let amid complaints of a "blot on the landscape".

Mark Dew of Doward Farm near Whitchurch was sent an enforcement notice regarding "old/scrap cars, vans and non-agricultural vehicles".

The items at the site in the Wye Valley National Landscape constituted "a material change of use" from farmland to "mixed use" without permission, according to Herefordshire Council.

There was "no evidence demonstrating an essential need" for change of use, stated the authority's notice, which was not the first to seek action from Dew over the matter. The LDRS has made attempts to contact him for comment.

According to the latest notice, a retrospective bid for planning permission "would not receive officer support" given the sensitive, beauty spot location.

The notice, dated 15 December, gives Dew 30 days from January 19 to "permanently remove" the "vehicles from the land", although he is permitted to lodge an appeal.

According to the planning inspectorate website, no such appeal appears to have been lodged.

Doward Farm continues to be advertised on several holiday letting websites as a place that can host up to 16 guests in seven bedrooms.

The council served a similar enforcement notice on Dew in 2019, giving him six months to comply.

Dew appealed, unsuccessfully, against the notice, with a neighbour commenting at the time: "Mr Dew is a thoroughly decent chap but he must accept that the current state of the farm is a blot on an otherwise beautiful and ancient landscape".

However, it appears no further action was taken, and the vehicles remained at the farm.

Last June, BBC Hereford and Worcester reported that Dew intended to sell "his entire collection of almost 200 vintage and classic cars" dating from the 1920s to the 2000s, at an open-air auction at the farm.

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