A man who piled his garden high with rubbish, breezeblocks, a fireplace and furniture and left it for at least two and a half years has been made to pay nearly £1,000 for refusing to clear it up.
Michael Brooks was issued with a Community Protection Notice after local residents complained to the council about the garden, which also had a skip full of rubbish, but he still didn’t get it cleared away.
So Bristol City Council’s neighbourhood enforcement team took out court proceedings against the 56-year-old, for failing to fulfil a Community Protection Notice on the garden of his home in Maynard Close, Hartcliffe.
He pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notice between January 17, 2017 and July 6, 2019, in that he did not stop allowing an accumulation of building materials and waste, other household waste and litter and the storage of a large full waste skip at his property, and did not clear it within 48 days of the notice.
He appeared before magistrates on November 13 and was fined £147. The court awarded costs to Bristol City Council, totalling £800, and Brooks will also have to pay a victim surcharge of £32.
This brought the total amount he will have to pay up to £979. Hiring a skip for a day and filling it to be taken away would have cost around £100.
A spokesperson for Bristol’s Neighbourhood Enforcement Team said it was a ‘massive accumulation of waste’.
“He continued to allow waste to pile up despite being issued with a notice requiring him to clear it up,” she added.
For the latest news in and around Bristol, visit and bookmark Bristol Live's homepage.
