A SEPTIC tank installed without permission will have to be removed, councillors decided yesterday.

The request for planning permission was retrospective, as the replacement tank had already been installed on agricultural land adjacent to Hilton Lodge at Evenwood Gate, members of Teesdale District Council planning north committee heard.

Planning officer Trevor Watson said the tank had been put in a different place to the original one and needed planning permission, because it was outside the land belonging to the applicant's property.

There was now an emphasis on trying to avoid new septic tanks where possible, and he felt that the applicant had not supplied sufficient information, despite repeated requests, as to why alternative forms of disposal could not be used.

"It has left us no option but to recommend refusal," he said.

The council's head of planning, Ken Hughes, also asked members to note that the application had been submitted in December 2000 and officers had tried hard to get further information without success.

Councillor John Salter expressed concern over retrospective applications. He said the applicant in this case had shown no co-operation. There was a watercourse nearby that could be used as an alternative to a septic tank and he saw it the plan as unnecessary and a potential environmental health hazard.

Councillors voted unanimously to refuse consent for the application and authorised enforcement action to secure the tank's removal.