A 130-YEAR-OLD cattle mart has
won its battle to quash a council
order which could have forced its
closure.
Magistrates ruled that Darlington
Borough Council had
failed to follow its own guidelines
when it issued Darlington Farmers'
Auction Market with a noise
abatement notice - restricting
delivery and collection hours.
They also ordered the council
to pay the auction mart's £16,000
legal costs.
The abatement notice prohibited
livestock from being delivered
to or collected from the mart
between 9pm and 7am - which
the mart claims would have
forced it out of business.
Yesterday, Darlington Magistrates'
Court heard from council
environmental protection officer
Brian Whelan, who said he visited
the mart on November 22 at
4.30am to assess noise. He then
sat outside the house of the resident
who had complained.
He said noise from running
engines, cattle being unloaded,
staff shouting, and gates banging
constituted a statutory nuisance.
The order was served following
this evaluation.
But it emerged in cross-examination
by the mart's lawyer,
Simon Catterall, that this was a
departure from the council's own
guidelines, which state that three
visits should be made to assess
noise levels and a diary kept.
Mr Catterall told him: "You
were very easily satisfied."
But Mr Whelan said the guidelines
were for irregular noise,
such as neighbours playing loud
music, rather than a regular
event such as the cattle mart.
During the two-day hearing,
the council maintained it served
the order following a series of
complaints from long-distance
lorry driver William Goodrick,
who lives opposite the Clifton
Road mart.
The court heard Mr Goodrick
was regularly awoken on Mondays
and Thursdays at 4.30am.
A petition of residents in nearby
streets gathered at the weekend
- was submitted to support
their case.
Closing for the council, Alex
Booth said allegations made by
the auction mart during the case
which claimed the council was
trying to close the mart to secure
valuable land in Neasham Road
in exchange for a site at
Faverdale were "smoke and mirrors".
He said magistrates should
concentrate only on the noise issues.
The petition proved many
people were affected by the noise
and Mr Whelan was an experienced
officer capable of assessing
the noise.
"This is not simply the case
of a single grumbler causing
trouble," said Mr Booth. "There
are streets of people who are
entitled to get a good night's
sleep."
The mart argued throughout
the case it would be forced to
close if the order remained in
place.
Unloading at 4.30am was crucial
to the business, it said, because
of the time it took to
process animals and the necessity
of getting animals to slaughter
the same day.
Closing for the mart, Mr Catterall
said the assessment should
have been over a longer period
and the petition was an afterthought.
"The investigation was wholly inadequate and as a result the council was wrong to satisfied a
statutory nuisance existed. Mr
Whelan acted in good faith but he
was wrong."
Chairman of the bench Colin
Beadle said there should have
been at least three noise assessments
and evaluations made
from the complainant's house
would have been more thorough.
"We feel a more through investigation
was required before
Mr Whelan could be sufficiently
satisfied there was a statutory
nuisance.
"We feel for these reasons the
abatement notice is not justified
and the appeal is allowed."
After the hearing, Stephen
Aitken, managing director of the
auction mart, said: "What the
council asked us to do was entirely
unreasonable."
A council spokesperson said:
"We felt we had carried out a
thorough investigation. We are
disappointed with the outcome
and will now consider our options."
* In yesterday's court report, it
stated the noise abatement notice
had prohibited deliveries at
the mart between the hours of
7am and 9pm. This was incorrect
and should have read between
the hours of 9pm and 7am. We
apologise for the error and any
confusion caused.
Posted by: Vicki, Darlington on 7:49pm Thu 15 May 08
Poor old Darlo Council, they can't get anything right. Good job too in this case. If I live in Waverly Terrace I'd be keen to keep the animal mart. Once the site is open to developers they will lose privacy, light, and quiet every day of the week.
Poor old Darlo Council, they can't get anything right. Good job too in this case. If I live in Waverly Terrace I'd be keen to keep the animal mart. Once the site is open to developers they will lose privacy, light, and quiet every day of the week.
The market was there for 150 years and it is only one day a week. If Council's in the past had properly managed development this would not be a problem. Kind of like building an airport out of town and then letting the town encroach and then residents complain about the noise. The market has been a good citizen all these years complying with health regulations and food safety regulations{hence the hours of operation} And they are rewarded with harassment. The resident in question should have done more research before buying this house.
The market was there for 150 years and it is only one day a week. If Council's in the past had properly managed development this would not be a problem. Kind of like building an airport out of town and then letting the town encroach and then residents complain about the noise. The market has been a good citizen all these years complying with health regulations and food safety regulations{hence the hours of operation} And they are rewarded with harassment. The resident in question should have done more research before buying this house.
Posted by: phil, darlington on 10:13pm Thu 15 May 08
The market has been there well before the house owner i would of guessed did they not see the market wen they bought the house.wat would u rather have a market once a week or a housing estate 24/7. the council should of just chucked the complaint out wat a waste of taxpayers money. as usual why dont the council just stand at the front of the town hall and chuck money into the air cos thats all they seem to do at the moment the town centre springs to mind now.
The market has been there well before the house owner i would of guessed did they not see the market wen they bought the house.wat would u rather have a market once a week or a housing estate 24/7. the council should of just chucked the complaint out wat a waste of taxpayers money. as usual why dont the council just stand at the front of the town hall and chuck money into the air cos thats all they seem to do at the moment the town centre springs to mind now.
Posted by: Frances Bourne, Darlington on 9:48am Fri 16 May 08
Thank goodness common sense appears to have won in this case. the farmers have enough pressure without having to put up with challenges on noise levels. For goodness sake this is a working market. I would rather have the sound of people going about their business and keeping a buoyant market going, than the sound of bulldozers flattening the site for yet another development of luxury flats. If you want to know what real noise is, go into Darlington town centre at 11 pm on a Friday night! Leave the market alone and let people continue to go about their business, please.
Thank goodness common sense appears to have won in this case. the farmers have enough pressure without having to put up with challenges on noise levels. For goodness sake this is a working market. I would rather have the sound of people going about their business and keeping a buoyant market going, than the sound of bulldozers flattening the site for yet another development of luxury flats. If you want to know what real noise is, go into Darlington town centre at 11 pm on a Friday night! Leave the market alone and let people continue to go about their business, please.
Posted by: Rachel, Darlington on 10:23am Fri 16 May 08
My only complaint is the farmers/workers, sometimes they have to block the road briefly which is fine, but sometimes they're just obstructive if people ask them to pull back a bit so they can drive past they pull further out, I've even seen them pull out as somebody tries to go round them! The livestock have more courtesy. Other than that I quite agree the market should stay where it's always been, and exactly where it was when everybody round there purchased their homes.
My only complaint is the farmers/workers, sometimes they have to block the road briefly which is fine, but sometimes they're just obstructive if people ask them to pull back a bit so they can drive past they pull further out, I've even seen them pull out as somebody tries to go round them! The livestock have more courtesy. Other than that I quite agree the market should stay where it's always been, and exactly where it was when everybody round there purchased their homes.
Posted by: mark, darlington on 11:13am Fri 16 May 08
nobody that lives around there is 130 + years old so if they dont like it why did they move there in the first place... nobody forced them to move there either put up or shut up!
nobody that lives around there is 130 + years old so if they dont like it why did they move there in the first place... nobody forced them to move there either put up or shut up!
Posted by: Mark, darlington on 11:14am Fri 16 May 08
nobody that lives around there is 130 + years old so if they dont like it why did they move there in the first place... nobody forced them to move there either put up or shut up!
nobody that lives around there is 130 + years old so if they dont like it why did they move there in the first place... nobody forced them to move there either put up or shut up!
Posted by: Chris, Darlington on 11:21am Fri 16 May 08
Another £16,000 pounds of tax payers money wasted by an incompetent council. Insignificant against the 4 million they've waste over the last few years though!
Another £16,000 pounds of tax payers money wasted by an incompetent council. Insignificant against the 4 million they've waste over the last few years though!
Posted by: i hate farmers, darlington on 3:04pm Fri 16 May 08
noisey,filthy rich farmers. let them have there auctions were they live. oh no i hear you say "the poor farmer" cant be doing that.we buy our meat from abroad,because its cheaper and much safer,farmers are getting a fortune for doing nowt.
"
noisey,filthy rich farmers. let them have there auctions were they live. oh no i hear you say "the poor farmer" cant be doing that.we buy our meat from abroad,because its cheaper and much safer,farmers are getting a fortune for doing nowt.
"
Posted by: Gem, Darlington on 5:08pm Fri 16 May 08
what a waste of money, whatever will be next. Should we have the railway line moved to out of town? I'm sure that causes a higher proportion of noise pollution than the weekly cattlemart. As for "I hate farmers", we should embrace our local produce, rather than helping another country's economy boom whilst ours suffers!!
what a waste of money, whatever will be next. Should we have the railway line moved to out of town? I'm sure that causes a higher proportion of noise pollution than the weekly cattlemart. As for "I hate farmers", we should embrace our local produce, rather than helping another country's economy boom whilst ours suffers!!
Posted by: i hate farmers, darlington on 5:37pm Fri 16 May 08
what a waste of money buying british....do you have a "british car" ?. like i said,produce from abroad is cheaper and much much safer. good luck to these countries !. if britain cant compete then "tuff".
what a waste of money buying british....do you have a "british car" ?. like i said,produce from abroad is cheaper and much much safer. good luck to these countries !. if britain cant compete then "tuff".
its pretty obvious that there is a serious amount of complacency in Darlo council. 16 grand wasted on something that should have been dismissed fairly early on, its disgraceful...where has the common sense department been sold off to? As so many have said before the mart was clearly there first, its not rocket science!
i will never understand why people hate farmers, as food prices are forced upwards from rising fuel costs it would seem the right time to be backing local producers. After all fuel becomes less of an issue when its grown on your doorstep. Farmers do get subsidies but think why those subsidies are needed?
Another much overlooked point is that without farmers and a rural economy we would all live in one massive metropolis, with no countryside to speak of; there would be no sheep or cows in the fields. There would be no-one to manage the wilderness, it would be a very different place.
There are plenty of villains in this country who deserve to be named and shamed, the supermarket giants who have conditioned us into thinking that perfect produce is best, that milk is cheaper to produce than mineral water, that meat should be butchered and sold in a fortnight, that you can get strawberries at christmas and bananas are a staple food of the british diet. They have also perusaded us that everything and i do mean everything needs to be shrink wrapped in plastic. Oh and while I'm here, that you can raise a healthy chicken and make a profit for the bargain basement price of £2.99!
Someone who can say that it is good to get meat from new zealand or kiwi fruit from south africa is living in another dimension. Support your local farmer buy from a local farmers market. Why send your pound abroad to buy food when you can spend it locally, you'll probably see it again that way!
its pretty obvious that there is a serious amount of complacency in Darlo council. 16 grand wasted on something that should have been dismissed fairly early on, its disgraceful...where has the common sense department been sold off to? As so many have said before the mart was clearly there first, its not rocket science!
i will never understand why people hate farmers, as food prices are forced upwards from rising fuel costs it would seem the right time to be backing local producers. After all fuel becomes less of an issue when its grown on your doorstep. Farmers do get subsidies but think why those subsidies are needed?
Another much overlooked point is that without farmers and a rural economy we would all live in one massive metropolis, with no countryside to speak of; there would be no sheep or cows in the fields. There would be no-one to manage the wilderness, it would be a very different place.
There are plenty of villains in this country who deserve to be named and shamed, the supermarket giants who have conditioned us into thinking that perfect produce is best, that milk is cheaper to produce than mineral water, that meat should be butchered and sold in a fortnight, that you can get strawberries at christmas and bananas are a staple food of the british diet. They have also perusaded us that everything and i do mean everything needs to be shrink wrapped in plastic. Oh and while I'm here, that you can raise a healthy chicken and make a profit for the bargain basement price of £2.99!
Someone who can say that it is good to get meat from new zealand or kiwi fruit from south africa is living in another dimension. Support your local farmer buy from a local farmers market. Why send your pound abroad to buy food when you can spend it locally, you'll probably see it again that way!
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
