A housing developer has been fined after ignoring planning permission rules on its own offices.

LF Nugent Groundwork Contractors plans to appeal after a court told it to pay £7,800 plus £400 costs.

The battle, which has been raging for more than a year, is over two plastic business signs.

They measure about two metres square and were put on the front and side of the company's office in Handcross in March last year.

Mid Sussex District Council ordered their removal as there was no planning permission for their attachment to Antrim House.

The company later applied for planning permission, which was refused because the council said the signs did not fit in with the character of the village.

Despite the reprimands, the signs stayed on the building.

Determined to prove its point, the council prosecuted the company earlier this year under the Town and County Planning Act (Control of Advertisements) 1992 and LF Nugent was fined £2,000. But still the signs stayed up.

Fresh proceedings have now been brought against the firm, which was found guilty in its absence and ordered to cough up.

Councillor Andrew MacNaughton said: "We are very pleased with the result. LF Nugent has continually ignored the situation and this cannot be allowed to happen."

Jeremy Grove, finance director at LF Nugent, said the company was looking into appealing the court's decision.

He said: "The signs were not taken down after the first fine. It was a bit of an oversight on our part - internally. It's just one of those things."

Friday July 18, 2003