A NEW enforcement notice has been served on a Wiltshire businessman who has failed to move a shipping container.

Gary Gale-Sides has been given three months to permanently remove the container from narrow strip of land behind his home at Atford House, 194a Bath Road, Atworth.

He runs a computer software development company, Eastfield Solutions Ltd, from his home address.

Copies of the notice have also been served on his wife, Elfreda Gale-Sides, who is a member of Atworth Parish Council; Phineas Gale-Sides, and Mr and Mrs Greenland, all of 194a Bath Road.

Wiltshire Council said Mr Gale-Sides had appeared to breach planning controls by siting the container on the land without obtaining planning permission.

A council spokesman said: "As the notice doesn’t come into effect until December 20, we’ll wait to see if the owner submits an appeal against it."

The council's notice said the container by "virtue of its incongruous design and utilitarian appearance" had resulted in a "visual intrusion" to the local amenities and street scene of the area.

"The council do not consider that planning permission should be granted for the above breach of planning control, because planning conditions could not overcome these objections to the unauthorised development."

Mr Gale-Sides said: “The process is ongoing. Why it is such an issue, I have no idea.

“As far as I am concerned, the container is not a development. It does not need planning permission.

“It has not gone to planning and it has not gone before the parish council.”

Back in October, the Bristol-based Planning Inspectorate cancelled an appeal after Wiltshire Council withdrew an enforcement notice on a technicality.