23 January (Part 3) - An illegal erection
Below is an image stolen from Google Streetview of a house not far from
Longfield in Kent and conveniently situated for
the Eureka Sun Club if you are into that sort of thing.
It looks to my inexpert eye to have been a small cottage somewhat over extended
with a single storey to one side, more to the rear - so I have been informed - and a porch.
Click image to view entire facade.
It comes under Sevenoaks District Council and it is interesting to look up the history of those extensions. If you do you will find that the porch is a bone of contention.
The planning application was made
on 26th May 2015 and included a photograph. As you can see the porch was already
more than half built.
I am sure that there must occasionally be a good reason for a retrospective
planning application but most of the time they are submitted by ignoramuses
without a clue about their civic responsibilities.
So it’s something of a surprise to learn that this is a councillor’s house. No it isn’t
Sevenoaks Councillor Anna Firth.
Whatever your opinion of Anna Firth she is definitely not an idiot.
Unfortunately for this councillor, the Planning Officers didn’t like the porch
and neither did the neighbours. The application was refused. There had been a
history of inappropriate applications - all refused.
The decision required that the almost completed porch had to be pulled down.
So not wishing to bring her council into disrepute, the councillor pulled the
porch down. Did she hell!
As you can see from the Google image above, she went ahead and completed the porch.
Sevenoaks Council had no option but to issue an enforcement order.
So the councillor has already brought her council into disrepute and is in
imminent danger of falling foul of the law. What’s more she is in the property
business and you’d expect a modicum of professional knowledge. And why is Councillor Maxine
Fothergill living in Fawkham anyway? Isn’t Bexley good enough for her?
The refusal is being appealed.
Go to
Sevenoaks Council Planning Portal. Enter code 15/01610 to the lower right of the page.