Casa Brighouse: Weddings and school proms up in the air after council temporarily shuts Calderdale venue at centre of sewage row

Officers served a 48-hour closure notice on the business last night (Tuesday) and are seeking the power to shut it for up to three months through the courts.

If the council is successful, wedding couples and schools with proms planned for the venue may need to change their plans.

A pipe from Casa Brighouse has been pumping the sewage onto Freeman’s Cut - used as a waterskiing lake.

Calderdale Council has had to stop the pipe being used, capping the pipe and clearing waste barrels.

It said last week: “The cost for all the work will be recovered from the business and legal discussions will continue. Council officers will continue to visit the site and further enforcement action will be taken.”

But the cap has failed twice over the past week, leading to yet more sewage pouring onto the land, so officers served the 48-hour closure notice yesterday (March 21).

Ian Day, Calderdale Council’s director of public services, said: “The water pollution caused by defective drainage at the Casa Hotel and Restaurant in Brighouse is unacceptable.

“We care about Calderdale’s communities and environment and understand local people’s distress in relation to this issue so we have taken a range of robust action against Casa to send a clear message that we take the situation very seriously.

“Casa’s failure to take the action required to stop their activity polluting the water has given us no choice but to close the premises, as of Tuesday March 21.

“We have the power to close the business for 48 hours, and we’re now applying to the court for an order to close the premises for up to three months.

“Business closure is always a last resort for us, but Casa has continually failed to take responsibility for preventing an issue that is causing concern for the wider community.”

The Courier reported last week how an Easter bank holiday terrace party at Casa Brighouse had been cancelled.

The venue said it needed to put its resources into fixing “the current issues” it is facing, and – in a statement on its Facebook page - Casa Brighouse said it wanted to “regain the community’s trust”.