A BUILDER'S yard in The Sands, unlawfully constructed within a Surrey Hills area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), will be demolished within the next six months following a ruling by Guildford Borough Council.

The countryside surrounding Sandy Farm, Sands Road, is also located within the Green Belt and is deemed an Area of Great Landscape Value (AGLV).

Despite such decrees, part of this picturesque landscape has been turned into a car park, a small area of hard standing and a builder's yard - all without planning permission.

In October of last year, Guildford Borough Council's enforcement team received a complaint relating to the legality of these developments, and planning officers visited the site.

Owner Barry Smith declared that part of the site had been hard standing for 26 years and that the builder's yard had been there for more than a decade.

However, enforcement officer Matt Banks obtained aerial photographs of the site from 1993, 1996 and 1997, which contradicted these claims.

The area of hard standing was shown to be grassland, while the builder's yard was not in existence in any of the photos, with officers concluding that the construction of the builder's yard was unauthorised.

After their visit to Sandy Farm, officers discovered further disregard for the planning application process and the countryside.

Despite similar claims from Mr Smith that an area of hard standing - currently used for car parking - had been laid since 1991/2, aerial photos concluded that this was in fact laid in 1999.

Following scrutiny, it was deemed that a further section of hard standing - which itself cannot be laid under agricultural permitted development rights - was unauthorised as its uses were not agricultural.

Similarly, officers assessed that a car-park area had not been laid for agricultural purposes and that planning permission would be required for its retention.

Enforcement officers also investigated reports that former farm buildings were being used as offices.

While Mr Smith obtained planning permission for certain buildings on the farm to be used as offices, some of the buildings being used as offices were not included in this application and were thus unauthorised.

Following the receipt of 18 letters of complaint regarding the issues at Sandy Farm and the site visit, planning officers embarked on enforcement action.

With a compliance period of six months, the builder's yard and both areas of hard standing must be removed and returned to grassland. Tony Rooth, Guildford Borough Council's member for Pilgrims and The Sands, spoke about the decision.

"All these developments were carried out without planning permission, and officers are correct that the construction of the builder's yard was carried out without planning permission. Such developments are unauthorised and in conflict with several aspects of national, county and borough planning policy to the extent that planning permission would not and should not be granted."

"It is clear that the Surrey Hills AONB will be subject to the most rigorous protection, and development inconsistent with the existing landscape character will not be permitted. A builder's yard and two hard standings used for car parking for office premises is not development for agriculture, forestry or outdoor recreation," he continued.

"Whatever may have been said in sworn affidavits, photographs can tell a 1,000 words of fact. I have looked at the aerial photographs which officers obtained for 1993, 1996 and 1997 and fully agree with officers that none of the photographs show either a builder's yard or car park hard standing in existence 10 years ago.

Therefore, the time is still running for enforcement action to be taken and I endorse the officers' recommendation that enforcement action be taken to remove and return to grassed areas both unsightly builders yard and two hard standings at Sandy Farm," he concluded.