THE EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT OF TDC IN DUMPTON PARK DRIVE - PART 2

In Part 1, I outlined how a 'disposal' involving residents at Dumpton Park suddenly became an application by TDC to TDC, to 'shoe-horn' a house between 132 and 134 Dumpton Park Drive.
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In February this year (prior to TDC Planning Committee meeting on Wed 18 February) , Albion Fencing arrived to fence off the open ground between the houses and residents took it down. This eventually led to a stand-off with TDC Officer Paul Verrall threatening to have residents arrested. Albion Fencing and TDC were required to retire, not gracefully, when the details of the Land Registry pronouncements were drawn to their attention! If you look at the picture above, TDC's land is marked in yellow and blue; the blue denotes a restrictive covenant preventing building taking place on the blue land (hence the alteration to F/TH/08/1394!). The plan below shows the Land Registry findings quite clearly!

The land marked purple is declared as 'Open Land' and Land Registry have denied TDC's 'land grab' through 'adverse posession' for it. The land marked green has been offered to TDC by Land Registry under possessory title due to unchallenged wrongful positioning of a fence. However, TDC cannot claim freehold until 2021! My understanding is that the fence was not erected by TDC but by a person who kept horses here some time ago, without consent from anyone!

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The first picture below shows the land denied to TDC that has now become the subject of a village green application with KCC by the local residents. The fence, not built by TDC, does not demarcate TDC's land correctly but that did not stop TDC putting up a sign a little while ago, claiming it as theirs. I wonder what the position in law would be if residents decided to re-position the fence correctly?

In Part 3, the hilarious and risible proceedings by TDC Planning Officers, Planning Committtee and finally Full Council in this matter will be covered. Just to whet your appetite, here is a quote from a representative of a major chain of retailers with an application approved on 23 April 2009 talking to residents as they left the TDC Council Chamber:

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"I am the legal representative of ***" she said, "I spend my working life in council chambers all over the country on planning applications and I can tell you...I've never seen anything like what I have just witnessed in there..... "

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The farce that this whole issue has become, gets even more interesting. You must bear in mind though that for the residents in Dumpton Park Drive, this is no laughing matter as they fight their own elected Council who are behaving like some grubby property speculator and they have already incurred £10,000 + legal expenses to fight this issue. No return by TDC to the minuted Cabinet Meeting instruction of 8 Aug 2008 to 'consult with those residents who may wish to extend their gardens'. Why is that?

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Instead TDC is till pushing its own Planning Application to itself, to put a house on land they have no claim to in law; on land they have no freehold on until 2021 and only if their cliam is not disputed! One has to wonder what is the motivation behind this? Who is to benefit? Is this really in the Council Tax payer's interest?