A COUNCIL is to take court action in a bid to remove eco lodges built illegally in secluded woodland on the edge of Kendal.

South Lakeland District Council has launched legal proceedings against Edward Steele, owner of Holme House Farm at Skelsmergh, to demand he remove 15 homes he built without planning permission on his land.

Mr Steele and his 14 residents had until September 29, 2011 to comply with an enforcement notice to cease occupation and remove all of the illegally erected lodges and return the land to agricultural use.

Deputy Leader of South Lakeland District Council Coun Hilary Stephenson said: “The tenant of this land has erected an illegal residential site, which is situated within a high-risk flood area and one of special scientific interest.”

She added “Officers from the authority have spent many hours, talking to the owner, tenants and occupiers to get them to comply with planning laws.

“Unfortunately it appears that there is not a willingness to comply and we feel our only option is to pursue the matter through the courts.”

Mr Steele said: “When I was in court to discuss this I thought that the tenants had to be out by September and that I had an another six months after that to dismantle the lodges.

"I have already demolished three lodges and another is ready to go.

"Eight are still occupied but I’m not making anyone homeless — I’m not doing the council’s dirty work for them.”

In the same notice, Mr Steele was also ordered to replace earth he moved while deepening a public footpath which the Environment Agency fears could cause a landslip.

Illegal excavation work undertaken on a hillside falling within a flood zone had also been noted by agency officers.

But they have advised SLDC not to return the land to how it was as further damage could be caused to the River Sprint.

Mr Steele said: “They told me to stop all work and I did.

“I’m not a mind reader — I didn’t know they wanted me to fill it back in.”