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ENFORCEMENT ADVICE |
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Nelson says: "Demand information & complain"
VISITATIONS Council's will come on to your land and demand information from you hoping you will give it to them free and help them to prosecute you, your family or your business. They will do this without cautioning you, or advising you of your rights. Don't let them get away with it! You are entitled to peaceful enjoyment. My main concern here is to keep your right to a fair hearing intact. Demand to see their authorization - not the little plastic badge they carry around their necks - that is just identification. According to the Planning and Compensation Act, if a council official seeks to enter your land (even under warrant), you are then entitled to see his or her authorization. This is your opportunity to find out at grass roots level, the nature and cause of the complaint against you - to include the identity of the complainant. (Note: sometimes the council invent complaints - this is termed soliciting and is unlawful). According to Article 6 of the Human Rights Act, you are entitled to know the details. Hence, you can now ask for the reports these guys don't want you to see. If they refuse or do not have the information you have requested, it is most likely the visit is designed to harass you. But, harassment is illegal and if you suspect this, report it immediately to your local Police, firstly on the telephone and follow this up in writing. Don't forget to get a Crime Number. Also mark down the time and date the council officers visited, together with numbers and names. The Police have a duty to protect you. However, the Police will try and worm their way out of taking any action. So don't mention Article 8 or Protocol 1 Article 1 to them - they will use these Acts to suggest you take out a civil action. The fact is that they should protect you from harassment in any event. If the council officers went away without giving you the information you asked for, write to their Chief Executive to insist he or she copies it to you. If their C.E. refuses to provide the information such as to qualify the purpose of the visit and the expenditure of ratepayers money, consider a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman. If the LGO finds maladministration, then you can insist on a Report to every member by the council's Monitoring Officer - See: Local Government and Housing Act 2000, Schedule 5. according to Section 92 of this Act you may be entitled to compensation. At this point you should be lobbying your councillors. Use the web to get the members email addresses or ask the council for a list of their members - they will post this to you. You must go on the offensive, or they will beat you. If you put up a good fight, the matter will most probably be resolved in your favour, with the help of a good local councillor. If you chicken out, they will probably abuse your rights. CONTRAVENTION NOTICES Never, ever, fill in one of these. The council are trying to force you to provide information to help them convict you or otherwise harm your rights. That is coercion. Any information obtained by this means may not be relied on in Court. It is the same as physically beating out a confession. Instead, write back to the council asking them to explain why they are writing to you. Ask them for the identity of the claimant and for sight of the, or any closed session reports, or other information they rely on. Don't forget that any council committee is a quasi-court. As such they should be bound by the rules of evidence, and the council' solicitors, as officers of the Court are bound to act honorably and disclose any information, even if it should harm their own case. Of course pigs might fly. However, insist that you need them to provide this information to enable you to consider their Notice properly. If they provide the information fully and completely, this will help you to decide what to do next - but as you will see, you are now in a better position - one you should have been in before they tried to bamboozle you to signing your own death warrant. Mostly, when properly challenged thus, council's run away. This is for a number of reasons, and usually because they are acting unreasonably. The most common cause of complaint is a neighbour with a grudge. Obviously, you need to know if your neighbour is telling the truth or otherwise obtaining favours from your council - corruption is rife, because most councillors do not know how their administration is supposed to work. Council officers treat them like idiots, and worse, they just seem to accept being fobbed off with some inaccurate quote or other! Don't forget that most council's now record their meetings. You are entitled to a copy of any meeting recorded. This is so under the Local Governmrnt Access to Information Act(s) A recording is a document and as such a public document. ENFORCEMENT NOTICES My main worry here is to prevent people becoming homeless or burdened with debt. Fortunately, there is new hope here via the Human Rights Act which seeks to prevent discrimination. TO BE CONTINUED.......... THANKS
I would just like to say to the growing number of affected members of the public who telephone or email me, that I am so very pleased if anything we have published can be used to further just decision making. The encouragement is mutual! Lastly, if you cannot find what you are looking for on these pages and need some help, please help me to help others by emailing first. Please reserve the telephone for emergencies only.
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