The owners of a property development company have been ordered to pay more than £12,000 by Staines Magistrates’ Court, after they failed to comply with a planning enforcement notice served by Elmbridge Council.

David Steen and Rosario Minerva pleaded guilty to the charge, as well as pleading guilty on behalf of their company Birchwood Commercial, at the court on Thursday, April 14.

The court heard the council had delivered the enforcement notice after the company constructed a building behind Queens Road, Weybridge, larger and higher than the planning permission granted.

The building was also let to residential tenants, despite the company only having permission to use it for office purposes.

The company lost an appeal against the notice, but in the intervening period a 12-month lease was signed on one the flats.

However, the planning inspector who heard the appeal granted the company further time to comply with the notice, but this expired without any attempt to alter the building or remove the tenants, the court heard.

Steen and Minerva were each ordered to pay £6,000 and the company was fined £12,000 by the court.

Martin Parker, head of town planning at Elmbridge Council, said: “The council considered the unlawful building was out of character and intrusive to neighbouring properties and this view was shared by an independent inspector after an appeal.

“Despite plenty of notice, the developer has not rectified the problem and this left the council no option but to prosecute and the council would do so again in similar circumstances.”