Theatre fined for breaching barn planning conditions

The owners of a barn have been fined more than £2,000 after breaching the number of wedding events it is permitted to host in a calendar year.

Titchfield Festival Theatre, which is now in administration, had previously pleaded guilty to two offences in relation to breaches of planning conditions in 2022 and 2023.

These offences relate to the number of weddings held at the Great Barn in Titchfield, exceeding the number allowed in both of those years.

At a sentencing held at Portsmouth Crown Court on 4 June the judge issued a fine of £1,000 and £400 victim surcharge for each offence making a total of £2,800.

The Great Barn at Titchfield is a Grade I Listed building dating back to the early 15th century.

Planning permission was previously granted by Fareham Borough Council for the use of the barn for various purposes, and a planning condition imposed on the permission restricts the use of the barn to no more than 14 wedding events in any one calendar year.

The council previously said the condition was imposed to protect the living conditions of the occupiers of nearby residential properties and also in the interests of the character of the Titchfield Abbey Conservation Area.

Titchfield Festival Theatre was prosecuted by the council for "persistent abuse of planning conditions".

At a court hearing held in September 2023 in the East Hampshire Magistrates Court, Titchfield Festival Theatre pleaded guilty to a total of nine separate criminal offences where unauthorised wedding events were held.

At the sentencing in June a Proceeds of Crime Act order was made, confirming the benefit figure to by £113,045.48, however the defendant was ordered to pay a £1 nominal amount due to the available funds being £0.