An illegal woodland development is finally being cleared after an expensive and protracted legal battle to reclaim the site.

Land at Fowlers Stone Wood, off Harvel Road, in Vigo, was seized and secured today (October 7) following a long-running enforcement case.

Contractors have started clearing structures, contaminated waste and other illegal development from the plot.

Since April 2020, Gravesham council has been pursuing enforcement and legal action against the illegal development and its landowner.

This led to the jailing of the owner, Gareth Sullivan, in October 2021 by the High Court after he accepted he was in breach of an injunction secured by the council preventing development at Fowlers Stone Wood.

Sullivan has since left the site and the removal of all vehicles, mobile homes, caravans, plant, machinery and waste can go ahead.

It is expected to take a number of weeks for works to be completed and entrances to Fowlers Stone Wood, previously been described as an “irreplaceable” woodland site, will be secured once contractors have left.

Cllr John Burden, leader of Gravesham council, said: “I know this case has been frustrating for local people.

“It has served to illustrate the very real legal constraints local councils face when it comes to tackling the illegal occupation and development of land like this.”

He added that while it may have appeared that at times no action was being taken, the council had been following complex legal proceedings.

The Labour leader added: “We had to ensure every step of those proceedings was completed carefully and lawfully or risk being successfully challenged, setting the whole process back many months.

“The level of evidence required for our successful applications to the High Court, firstly for an injunction and then to have Sullivan held in contempt for breaching that injunction, was exceptional, and I can only praise our enforcement and legal teams for their diligence in that work.

“I would also like to thank local residents and local councillors in the area for their patience and persistence in supporting us to get this matter resolved.

“Despite taking action that saw the offender jailed, it has still proved time-consuming and challenging to get to where we are today, to gain access to the site and to begin the work to clear it.

“Sullivan’s actions and our efforts to bring him to account for them and rectify the damage he has done have resulted in a great deal of expense and we will be making full use of all the avenues open to us to recover those costs.”

Cllr Burden added that the council was grateful to Meopham Parish Council which is working on plans to restock trees in the woodland once clearance work had been completed.

He said: “Today we have reached a milestone that at times has seemed a long, long way off.

“There is still some way to go before we begin to see Fowlers Stone Wood restored to its former glory, but I hope local residents can now see that the end is in sight to this frustrating saga.”

In April 2021, planners refused to grant permission to a retrospective application for the development, changing the use of land for “one mobile home, a utility unit with raised decking, a toilet and one touring caravan, together with the creation of a vehicle access, parking and turning areas”.

Work was first reported on-site in April 2020, leading to a High Court hearing which ruled the development was illegal.

In July 2022, Gravesham council compiled evidence to take the landowner back to court over activities it suspected were in breach of a court injunction at Fowlers Stone Wood.

It has called for a change in the law to get tougher on such illegal developments and prevent such episodes from reoccurring.