I have had lot of problems with the council Planning department where I ended up dealing with whole of the planning department members including the senior planner , head of the department and the director of the planning , council members, Local MP . My local councillor stood by me since the last 1 year.
I will put a few bullet points so you get some idea in a nutshell bearing in mind that lot has happened before I got to an unsatisfactory end. Reigate and Banstead council needs to be exposed.
• 2013 – neighbour replaced the window without planning permission. I complained immediately. I was pushed by the senior planners to go to mediation, Citizens advice bureau and various legal bodies. Nothing came out of it. They insisted no law was broken and the neighbour is within his right.
• During the course of 3 years a lot of correspondence took place between the council and myself. The head of the planning insisted the matter came under general planning Development Order and kept dismissing me . I took the advice from a planning consultant and Royal Institute of the Town planning . Both of them concluded that a planning breach has taken place and the council should enforce the window to be replaced with non-opening, glazed ,frosted glass. The opening should be ONLY fanlight opening 1.7 meter above the floor on the neighbour's landing .
• Finally in the end the head of the planning admitted that he got confused and did not interpret the law correctly and apologised.
• The neighbour refused to change the window and the council refuses to enforce the replacement despite the planning breach. The neighbour says he was misguided by the council.
• Meanwhile his window being in the upper elevation of his property, facing my property which is only 3 meters away, and he can look into throughout of my accommodation. There is no privacy in the bedrooms, kitchen, all the living areas , garden, driveway.
• I have been living behind closed curtains , with no privacy anywhere, no light, and spending time at work from 7.30am to 11pm until the neighbours have gone to bed every day. This is obviously is affecting my health, my work, and my mental health. The impact is huge.
• Finally the council, after persuasion by me , offered to pay for the replacement of the window but the neighbour disputed and demanded the council pay for all the decorating , that would be disturbed and the whole hall way and the landing.
• The council decided that the damage to the neighbour’s decoration was more important and as a result his suffering was more serious at my cost and decided to withdraw the offer.
• The head of the planning in the council manipulated the issue by holding a private committee meeting between the councillors and the planning committee members. The planning committee was briefed what to say by him. This way they closed the doors on me and my own local councillor , who was ignored and public was not allowed to listen. There was no planning appeal or any enforcement notice ,thus blocking me to go to any institution with my plea.
• The council chose to action the option which was to tell the neighbour to put restrictors which can be moved or taken out and put opaque film on the window panes. Due to the restrictors, a wide gap would be created in the whole length of the middle of the window . Again I was dismissed when I objected saying that this is absolutely unworkable option because the neighbour can still overlook ‘head on’ into my whole property.
• The council has locked the door on me , thus stopping me going to any institution for complain. I despair that I have to spend rest of my days in my own home overlooked with closed curtains and no light. All my human rights are taken away by the Council. If the head of the planning cannot understand the law or understand how to uphold the law, and mitigate the consequences as a result of it, who can we trust in this borough and where can we go.