Fined for felling 3 TPO Trees

[rootuntveg]

My reading of the law on this subject indicates that the legislation creates it's own penalty in the Magistrates court and is not subject to the usual Statutory Maximum ie £5000.

S210(2) Town & Country Planning Act 1990 stipulates that a single offence carries a penalty of up to £20,000.

Not sure if that could be interpreted as £20K per tree but usually if charged as one offence there would be only one multiple of the maximum penalty.

When imposing a penalty the court is required to take into account any financial benefit that may accrue from the ccommission of the offence.

If dealt with by the Crown Court there is no limit to the fine.

In criminal prosecutions costs are normally awarded to the prosecutor which in this case would be the Local Authority. 

Edited October 7, 2017 by rootuntveg
Addendum and for the sake of completeness

[Arborist]

That makes sense rootuntveg up to 20k in mag and unlimited in crown. 

[Adam M]

Can the Magistrates impose a total value of fines in excess of £20k if there were 3 counts at say £8k?