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The owners of a caravan park allowed sewage to collect on site and cause foul-smelling floods. Petty Char Limited, which owns and runs the Petty Char Court Mobile Home Park, near Billingshurst, was prosecuted for failing to comply with two compliance notices to improve its sewage disposal systems and surface water drainage schemes for the site. There were also other breaches of the company's site licence.
The failure to comply left the residents of Petty Char Court, in Coneyhurst Road, with sewage collecting in lagoons on site and foul-smelling floods on the adjacent A272, particularly in warmer weather. Petty Char Limited pleaded guilty to the offences at Crawley Magistrates Court in November 2023 and agreed to complete works to rectify the problems. Read more: Man to appear in court charged with rape of another man These works have still not been completed and the site remains in an “unsatisfactory state”, Horsham District Council said.
Petty Char was fined £26,667 and had to pay a victim surcharge of £10,667 and the Council’s costs in full of £6,077.61. The defendant’s early guilty plea was taken into consideration when sentencing, together with all the details of the case.
Director of communities at Horsham District Council Paul Anderson said: “I was extremely disturbed to hear of these breaches which are completely unacceptable. “This council will not accept poor standards on caravan sites, especially park home sites like Petty Char Court which are the permanent homes of residents and need to meet the required health and safety standards to ensure that they provide a pleasant and safe living environment. “We gave the owners extensive professional advice and guidance to rectify this situation.
“This successful prosecution should serve as a warning to similar businesses and send out a positive message that as a council we will not accept this level of poor management and will take necessary action. “We will continue to closely monitor all such matters district-wide.”.
