THE woman who took on Malvern Hills District Council over drainage arrangements at a Powick property has been left £61,000 out of pocket after her renewed appeal against an Enforcement Notice failed.

Claire Crossley, who owns King's End Cottage but lives elsewhere, has vowed to take the case to the High Court.

Mrs Crossley spent five days in Hereford Crown Court contesting the refusal of an appeal against an Enforcement Notice regarding a reed bed drainage system she installed to deal with effluent from the property and two others in 1997.

The notice was served in April 2001, after complaints about smells coming from the reed bed. It was upheld at an appeal hearing last November. Recorder Martin Wilson QC dismissed the latest appeal on Monday (June 17), awarding undisclosed costs to MHDC.

In a 20-page judgment he said that he and two lay magistrates who heard the appeal, believed the drainage system was "at best, precarious". He added that it required a lot of maintenance, satisfactory provision had not been made for drainage and sewage treatment was not sufficient.

Speaking after the case, Mrs Crossley said she planned to appeal immediately to the High Court on several points of law, including the fact that she believed costs awarded against her were totally disproportionate to the scale of the alleged nuisance.

She claims her appeals have cost her a total of £61,000, when loss of earnings are taken into account.

"I'm determined to take it to a higher court," she said. "This notice was served without warning, consultation and without discussion with me. I'd already spent £25,000 on the reed bed system and drainage works in 1997, which was approved in writing."

Mrs Crossley added that she did not want to install a biodisc (rotating biological compactor) as an alternative, which would not be as environmentally friendly. During the case she used a number of leading experts to support her argument that the reed bed system was sufficient and that there was no nuisance.

Following the dismissal, MHDC solicitor Nicolas Wheatley said: "It's gratifying."