A COUNCILLOR at the heart of a community's battle over greenbelt land in Mobberley has welcomed the sentencing of a man at the High Court.

Michael Maloney was handed an eight month prison sentence, suspended for a period of two years, after being found guilty of ten counts of contempt back in February.

Maloney had moved on to land off Broadoak Lane without planning permission last August and after Cheshire East Council managed to obtain an interim injunction.

A judge said Maloney had shown repeated disobedience of the court, little remorse and hoped the suspended sentence would provide him with a strong incentive to abide by the terms of the injunction.

After the sentencing, Mobberley ward councillor Charlotte Leach said: "I am broadly satisfied with today’s outcome.

"In my view only a custodial sentence would have properly reflected the serious nature of Mr Maloney’s breaches of the High Court Order, albeit I accept that there will be disappointment in the community that the custodial sentence is a suspended one.

"That said, Mr Maloney is currently already detained in custody on another matter and in many respects a suspended sentence provides the community with more protection in relation to any potential future breaches.

"As council’s counsel noted, the two-year suspended sentence will be hanging over Mr Maloney like the ‘Sword of Damocles’.

"A custodial sentence has been imposed in recognition of the continuous and flagrant disregard for the law and has, at the very least, provided some sense of justice for our local community.

"In addition, Mr Maloney has to make a payment of costs to Cheshire East Council of £25,000 within 28 days.

"Whilst there some road ahead for us in restoring the land back to its rightful condition, this is a significant and key milestone on this journey.

"At this juncture I would like to take the opportunity to thank the relevant officers at Cheshire East Council for their tireless efforts on this case and also wish to express my thanks to our fantastic local community in Mobberley who took the time to assist with collecting evidence of the breaches."

The Court granted the final injunction for five years (or pending determination of the planning appeal) and limiting occupancy of the site to eight caravans.

In coming to this decision the Judge had regard to many factors, including the fact that Maloney is currently detained and had this hearing taken place in February and a six month sentence imposed, it would have been served by now.

Additionally and amongst other matters, the Judge found that a suspended sentence provides incentive to comply with the order.

Maloney was also ordered to pay the Council’s legal costs of the injunction aspect of the proceedings.

While the full amount of this will be subject to a further assessment he was ordered to make an interim payment of £25,000 of our legal costs by June 1 2021.