Dover District Councillor admits:

“We were misled about the demolition of your bungalow.........I believed that officers would always tell us the truth; something that I came to realise just was not true.........some officers could not be trusted......."

Click here for further details.

My 25-year fight for justice against Dover District Council, who unlawfully demolished my home.

Dover District Council's JCB makes light work of the small, timber-framed bungalow

Full, lawful residential user rights existed when I bought my bungalow and the purchase was made in the usual way, employing the services of an estate agent and a local solicitor who carried out all the necessary searches and enquiries.

I purchased my bungalow on the 15th June 1984, yet at a Planning Committee meeting on the 12^th July 1984, just 4 weeks later, David Sturt, Dover District Council’s Director of Planning, recommended to the elected members that they vote to demolish my home, thus committing criminal damage. The recommendation was made based on false and biased information and without considering any representation from me.

What follows is a factual account of my dispute with the Council, which started in 1984 and still continues today, almost a quarter of a century later.

Dover District Council demolished my home in 1989 despite the fact that it had been a lawful residence for over 60 years.

More recently the Council’s Chief Executive, Nadeem Aziz, commissioned an investigation into my case and his own senior Professional Standards Investigator and Accredited Mediator found that the Council's decision to demolish my home was based on inaccurate and misleading advice and he stated:

“This was maladministration”

But the Council is not concerned with the truth and continues to suppress the evidence that supports the long-standing residential use of my property.

The manner in which Dover District Council operates its planning decision-making should be of concern to everyone because what should be a democratic process is failing because the paid staff dictates. Committee Members are not questioning the edited planning reports of council officers, but are merely rubber-stamping their recommendations, thus leaving the process open to abuse. Since 1984 successive Committees have made perverse decisions about my case, without being in possession of the full facts. Decisions have been made, based on false and misleading information presented by the planning department, and this has led to serial acts of maladministration.

Dover District Council is frightened of the truth and is out to gain its ends by means more foul than fair. They have repeatedly ignored my proper rights and their ongoing persecution is based on deception, illegal actions and organised lies amounting to a conspiracy.

The arrogance and indifference shown by Committee Members during this time is inexcusable and it is questionable why they refuse to accept the truth. Over the years I have written to all members of successive Planning Committees and not one Councillor has ever had the courtesy to reply. The Council has disregarded every attempt by me to resolve this dispute by negotiation, preferring to waste huge amounts of taxpayer’s money in an attempt to cover up the previous administration's errors in what appears, to a number of independent observers, to be a vendetta.

The Council’s Chief Executive, Nadeem Aziz, refuses to meet me and ignores correspondence, while at the same time, incorrect and misleading statements are released to the press. This amounts to dishonesty and is unacceptable.

Hopefully this website will enlighten people as to the unsavoury tactics used by district council officials. It appears that council corruption may be widespread in this country and consequently the number of websites exposing maladministration and injustice is increasing.

Deception can occur at committee level when an applicant makes a planning application or when the council pursues wrongful enforcement action against a lawful use. However, most corruption begins at officer level and, worryingly, this law breaking is protected in England as there is no statutory requirement for the police to take action and therefore officers of the council are immune from prosecution.

Planning crime goes unpunished and officers are never dismissed nor prosecuted, but are given early ‘retirement’, moved sideways to another department, or given false redundancy, which is in itself an offence.

Before any planning application reaches committee level, it is first dealt with by the planning department and it is here that the planning officer can begin his or her 'punishment' against the applicant by carefully perverting the application and manipulating evidence. This has undoubtedly occurred in my case and when they do foul up, what does it matter to them anyway? They know their colleagues will close ranks to protect them and the legal department will lie through its teeth to protect the officer.

Consequently, having experienced a serious injustice I am developing this website to portray the correct facts. Further on I explain about the complaint I made against Dover District Council's Planning Department that led to an investigation into my case, which resulted in DDC being found guilty of maladministration with injustice on a number of counts. The Chief Executive’s refusal to accept the honest findings of his own investigation amounts to a deliberate concealment of the Council’s errors.

Dover District Council is guilty of Misfeasance in Public Office and it is scandalous that Nadeem Aziz, who seems to have no concept of natural justice, has taken no action against his offending officers. In any other organisation the individuals responsible would be suspended, or at least relieved of their responsibilities pending a thorough investigation. Mr Aziz's neglect to suspend officials with serious allegations against them is a disgrace and his failure to mount a wider investigation raises even more disturbing questions. The fact that he spent months trying to bury or ignore the findings of an investigation that he personally commissioned, and which cost the local taxpayer many thousands of pounds, also raises serious questions about his motivation to cover-up this issue. It may have something to do with the fact that before his internal promotion to Chief Executive he was in charge of the planning department that failed in its duty of care to correct the clear violations in law perpetrated by the very department which he previously controlled.

The whole scenario reeks of a cover up.

To read how it all started click this link: How it all started

MPs' Expenses Scandal

According to the local newspaper Dover's MP, 'Three Homes' Gwyn Prosser has claimed £91,463 in expenses on his second home while earning income from letting out his third home... click here for more information.

Whistleblowers

The law that protects whistleblowers is for the public interest - so people are encouraged to speak out if they find malpractice in an organisation. They can do so knowing they're protected from losing their job and/or being victimised.

Blowing the whistle is more formally known as 'making a disclosure in the public interest'...... More