Mother, 52, is jailed after failing to pay £167,000 fine for illegally building six stables and mobile home in village – while enjoying holidays to Turkey and glammed-up nights out with pals
- Tracie Carter, from Alvechurch, Worcestershire, has been in custody for a year
A woman who ignored planning laws to rent out illegally built stables on greenfield land has been jailed for failing to demolish the stables and pay a £167,000 fine.
Tracie Carter, 52, went on holiday to Turkey instead and went on drunken nights out with her friends.
The mother was forced to pay a huge six-figure sum when she went ahead and built six stables and a static caravan on her land on Aqueduct Lane, in the village of Alvechurch, Worcestershire, despite being refused planning permission.
She has been locked up for a year now because she has not coughed up the money.
Carter was ordered at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court in November 2022 to pay £167,378 and demolish the stables and mobile home, which council officers said was ‘obviously’ where she lived.
Tracie Carter, 52, has been convicted of failing to pay a £167,000 fine after building six stables and a static caravan on her land in Avelchurch, Worcestershire, without planning permission.
The mother has now been jailed for a year by a district judge at Kidderminster District Court after failing to cough up the money
She did not appear before the same court at her previous trial, where she was found guilty in her absence.
A year later, she was warned by a district judge of the same court that she would face jail time if she did not make efforts to pay the large fine he had given her a suspended sentence.
But on May 20, District Judge Ian Strongman activated her 12-month prison sentence when he decided he was not satisfied that every effort had been made to make the payment.
The stable with six horses – including a young foal – and the mobile home were still there when MailOnline visited the country this week.
When asked, the close-knit community knew little about Carter, but said people had been seen coming and going to the property since her captivity.
Carter had a planning application to build six stables, which was rejected by Bromsgrove District Council in 2004 due to their size and location.
Documents show councilors ruled it was an ‘inappropriate development in the green belt’ and said it would ‘unacceptably harm openness’.
However, Carter ignored the message and built them anyway with a mailbox and a sign outside that read “Aqueduct Stables.”
Overall, the site was developed with a mobile home with decking for residential use, a large stable block, a riding school, a haystack, fencing and vehicle access.
Carter ignored a planning refusal to build the stables (pictured) and then installed a letterbox and a sign outside saying ‘Aqueduct Stables’. She advertised the site on Gumtree and rented the stable to a third party
Pictures on her Facebook page show her enjoying a glamorous night out with her friends, while another photo shows her on holiday to the seaside resort of Alanya in Turkey.
The mobile home Carter ‘clearly’ lived in is still on the land when MailOnline visited this week
Six horses – including a young foal – could be seen grazing in the farm’s field
Neighbors told MailOnline that people have been seen coming and going on the property since Carter was jailed, which still has horses on the land
The stables had been advertised on Gumtree by Carter and then rented to a third party
This was then advertised on Gumtree as a sporting facility and she went on to rent out the stables and horse facilities to a third party.
Photos on her Facebook page posted since September last year show Carter enjoying a holiday in the seaside resort of Alanya in Turkey, where she enjoyed a meal at Hisar restaurant on top of the castle.
While on a reel, she can be seen going on glamorous nights out with her friends, with a short video showing her on a party bus with neon lights flashing blue, green and red.
Commenting on the case, Simon Wilkes, head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services, said: ‘Bromsgrove District Council will not tolerate breaches of notices and planning officers will continue to work with their enforcement colleagues at WRS to ensure planning decisions are complied with.’
Ruth Bamford, head of planning at Bromsgrove District Council, added: ‘Bromsgrove District has a lot of green belt which is important to protect against damaging development.’
