Demonstrating that the civil war at Anglesey County Council is a long way from over, unaffiliated councillor for Rhosyr and Independent candidate in the general election, Peter Rogers, had a remarkable letter published in the Daily Post yesterday.
In it he:
- Calls for the councillors who have been criticised by the Ombudsman to be named and shamed;
- Blasts Anglesey AM Ieuan Wyn Jones for failing to personally respond in the Welsh Assembly to a statement about the problems at Anglesey County Council;
- Asks why Ieuan Wyn Jones has not instigated disciplinary hearings against Plaid Cymru councillors on the council, particularly Deputy Council Leader Cllr Bob Parry, for (a) their part in this expenses scandal; and (b) for condoning the "appalling behaviour of certain councillors"
Here is the letter in full:
I applaud your recent published letters from Anglesey residents, angered that Anglesey Councillors have not been named and shamed. Your paper has recently named a clutch of councillors, whom the Ombudsman has found have charges to answer, and there are certainly more to be named.
This slow, drip-drip of disclosures of the misdemeanours of we councillors just prolongs any early recovery.
All the huffing, puffing and posturing by successive Ministers of Local Government in the Assembly count for absolutely nothing.
The Assembly's involvement in the shenanigans of Anglesey councillors is nothing short of a disgrace.
What else should the people of Anglesey expect, when our own Assembly Member and Deputy First Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones, does not even rise in the Chamber to respond to the last statement by the minister, on Anglesey County Council's elected members?
He simply ignores it and allowed a fellow Assembly Member - a Dr Lloyd - to respond. What a snub to Ynys Môn.
Questions must be asked why the local Plaid AM has not instigated disciplinary action against his Plaid councillors, its Leader, and, incidentally, the Deputy Leader of the Authority, Cllr Bob Parry, particularly over the expenses jolly to South Wales, and this is followed by their total support for the unacceptable 4.5% increase in the rates.
Their support for swimming pool closures and the apparent acceptance of of the appalling behaviour of certain councillors has been to the detriment of his Authority. We now also have an ongoing, highly expensive investigation by a South Wales planning consultant into two recent planning applications and also over the conduct of certain planning committee members. Honestly, you could not make it up!
No wonder the Anglesey ratepayers are calling for action.
Ieuan Wyn Jones should be addressing the crisis which is engulfing Ynys Môn - which already has the lowest GDP in Europe - and not worry about addressing the nation in the run up to the election.
He should remember that charity begins at home.
Cllr Peter S Rogers, Ynys Môn
We certainly haven't heard the last of this...
39 comments:
Here's anothe bombshell, the Anglesey 2 have started a Hunger Strike today, to bring to the attention of the Council, Albert Owen and Ieuan Wyn Jones, that they can NOT ignore the Human Rights of the Welsh people anymore! The Anglesey are fighting to defend the Human Rights of the Welsh Nation, and to fight the attempts of an incompatable Council to eliminate the Anglesey 2 for defending their rights.
There is only so much people can take, a regime of torture and pain was nurtured and encouraged and for once I can only hope that the Anglesey 2 and the hunger striking brother can get at the truth, be it sooner rather than later, or does Anglesey County Council want a martyr on their hands.
What does Clive the Mc think of it all, probably doesn't affect him, all of these abuses probably never happened on his shift, let's hope he has got the balls to call in the Welsh Assembly to have a public inquiry, or is he too big to do that. Could we organise a hunger striker watch here, or shall we not bother, you know the Anglesey way.
I hope that we can get a public inquiry to get at the truth, the enforcement notice and the torture of not giving a licence to the hunger striker.
We live in hope, let's hope common sense prevails and these walls can be taken down, from around the council offices and an effort made on both sides to see sense, before it's too late.
Are you watching and listening Clive, get Peter to contact the Welsh Assembly before it gets too serious.
Angry tax payer.
Public inquiry for the Anglesey 2
calon lan
The Anglesey 2......what is this about....I have missed it ??
For those of you like me who didn’t know who the Anglesey 2 are – this is from the freelibrary.com:
(http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WALES:+Brothers+face+pounds+100k+bill+for+court+battle.%28News%29-a0150926841)
TWO brothers 20-year-long battle with planning bosses ended in a High Court defeat yesterday tried to sue Anglesey Council for more than pounds 3m in a complex planning wrangle. Last night they were facing a counter claim for costs which could reach £100,000.
The brothers, who conducted their own case, claimed council officers deliberately tried to stop plans for Glanaber Caravan Park in Amlwch Port - run by their dad from 1963.
They claimed misfeasance in public office. The council denied both allegations. The case began last year and was heard at three different courts - Chester, Crewe and Caernarfon.
Yesterday, Chester High Court judge Derek Halbert delivered his 27-page written judgment into whether the brothers proved liability against the council..
But the council did not escape criticism from Judge Halbert who described the council's handling of the file as far from ideal.
Finding the claim of negligence and misfeasance failed he said: "I remain satisfied to a high standard of probability that the council officers acted without malice, indeed they had acted in the belief what they were doing was right."
The dispute stretched back decades.
In February 1963, the brothers' father John Pritchard, who died seven years ago, applied for permission for 50 residential caravans for Wylfa Power Station construction workers and their families.
In April 1963, the local council granted temporary planning consent during that construction work.
In 1967 it gave permanent permission for holiday use.
Later the council claimed it served an enforcement notice preventing the brothers using the site.
However, in December 2000, a Welsh Office inspector decided the Pritchards did have planning permission to put 26 caravans on the site.
During the case Gordon Pritchard who lives at Cemaes, was able to cross examine top planning bosses, including corporate director Arthur Owen.
Armed with piles of dossiers, the brothers unsuccessfully attempted to prove they were owed a duty of care by the council and that it was negligent.
Last night a council spokesman said: "We are pleased with the judgment, particularly the judge's conclusion the officers, against whom the claimants had made serious allegations, all acted honestly and in good faith.
"During the course of the claim the council offered the claimants three opportunities to withdraw the claims and bring the court proceedings to an end.”
COPYRIGHT 2006 MGN Ltd.
Maybe that's why the Judge never mentioned the Human Rights act when it is enshrined that the Brothers had rights to enjoy their property without interference, and why didn't they get a licence, there's a suspicious smell here, and it's not right, I can see from my angle, that if the planning inspector said the planning was alright then why didn't they get the licence when their dad died.
The enforcement notice was a breach of their human rights I reckon, and the refusal of the Welsh Assembly to investigate is a scandal.
The Council wouldn't give them a licence, yet gave the new English owner a licence straight away, that's a funny one.
Let me guess, the man in the office to give out licences was English and anti welsh? only a theory.
I hope the brother on Hunger strike has a heart attack and dies, he has had a nightmare of a life and has been torured over the years over licence, he is my kind of martyr, a true welsh man dying for his country, his cause, his beliefs. Wrap him in a welsh flag and fire a volley ove rhis grave, he is a patriot, remember him, next time you think of the Council of FOOLS.
Un o Fon.
We support the Anglesey 2 and their human rights campaign, we all have the right to enjoy our property without hinderance and without a suspicious Enforcement Notice.. Welsh People First...we support you all the way.
Isn't it suspicious that Planning Permissions are treated so awfully when they are still valid, did Elwyn Schofield have the same problem with his Caravan Sites, I don't think so.
What about the Enforcement Notice isn't that acting maliciously when they knew it didn't exist?
Why didn't they get the licence if they still had planning, is it because they are Welsh, and disabled????
Why are they still working there if they knew no enforcement notice existed but still say it was in existance?? this is really strange, is it one law for the Welsh and another for the english???
I admire your blog as the Druid, fighting against the Romans, when in fact the people of Anglesey were betrayed by the people we elected. Our enemies live amongst us, they are the ones we all blame, they are the new Roman invaders.
Im glad that the Anglesey 2 have been tortured for years their case shows the harassement and abuse bestowed by this Council on the people of Anglesey.
A lot of the people have just gone, put up with having their lives turned upside down and walked away, I think there is a quote by a famous planning officer " Take your time with the planning application but make sure you refuse it" or another classic " The planning permission has been refused on Highway Grounds" Even though there is no Highway Objections.
If YOU the tax payer have had a planning application refused on Highway Grounds or Access, then you have been a victim of the famous Anglesey Con.
By and by, another trick is to make people go away, let them run to solicitors while the council will ignore their evidence and legal advice, who are they to question how the monkeys run this zoo called Anglesey County Council.
If they, the failed planning applicants have the cheek to contact the fat Albert we call our MP, then that's ok too, you see, his right hand stooge is related to the planners.
What about the Ombudsman, that's ok, they can fiddle the evidence and have their other relative who works in that office muddy the complaint and bask in another complaint withdrawn or rejected.
They have got all avenues covered you see, and they just love destroying businesess, and giving licences away, the only thing they don't like is someone having the cheek to show them up, but they don't care.
This is an outline of the difficulties and the torture that has been inflicted on innocent people by an incapable Council.
However, don't even think of bringing any complaint or suspicion of wrong doing to Inspector Deadhead, of the North Wales Police, they are all freemasons, and we know that no Mason can give evidence against another Mason, so most investigations get drawn out, dragged out for months, then when the complainant has cooled off, Inspector Deadhead tells them that there's not enough evidence, so they all walk away, another tortured family, another victim of unbelivable cruelty.
I hope the day comes, when a wind of change blows across Anglesey, a wind of change blowing from the European Court of Human Rights and this house of torture falls into despair and dust.
Best of luck to the Anglesey 2, they may destroy you, but we the true Welsh are behind you, what happened to you both was pure hell, and to be tortured over the issue of a site licence is akin to a life sentence for a crime that you both never committed.
The Welsh people of Anglesey deserve to be treated with respect by this obnoxious Council, and the lack of respect in the handling of the planning and site licence is torture.
Hawliau Ddynol.
Lle roedd Hawliau Ddynol y brodur?, lle roedd ei hawliau nhw i fwynhau ei tir ai bywyd?, trwydded a hawl i fyw yn rhydd ac heb hanbygio, pam mae gan y saeson fwy o hawliau na pobol lleol?, ond sud oedd y cyngor yn anghofio fod gan y brodur a phob Cymro hawliau ddynol, ta ond ir sais mae o?
An appalling story !
But there is another Anglesey 2.
The young couple who were granted pp for a home for themselves and their disabled child at Pentre Berw, who bought the land after the grant of pp, only to have mean-spirited neighbours complain to the Ombudsman, who advised IACC to revoke the pp, which IACC duly did, and are now fighting a claim for compnsation in excess of £100K. This was not down to Officers though...it was the dear Committee !!
INTERESTING THEORY.
Mean-spirited neighbours we say ??
When it comes to planning, as where someone wants to build next to you, OR in your opinion too close to you, or spoil your view, or look into your bedroom, or overshadow you, etc etc, are we not all NIMBYs at heart........?
Blin o Fon.
The point is, planning permissions are valuable assets and should not be thwarted, taken away, removed unlawfully, these are all deep concerns, who gives these tossers the right to take and destroy other people's property.
There is a means to activate your planning permission, but these corrupt people ignore the planning law, their motto is make people go away!
How many of them have had planning permissions approved by a nod a wink and a backhander, when the normal lawful man, gets screwed and tortured.
What do the police do? Nothing. Your right to enjoy your property is your basic Human Right, these are basic laws that we have as citizens of this hell hole called Anglesey, and belive me you will it very hard to show this council that you have Human Rights, just ask the Anglesey 2.
Their case goes back years, with hundreds of pages of evidence, as far as the Council fools were concerned they (the Anglesey 2) had never ever lived in Anglesey and had never ever owned property on the Island, this is the obscene reaction of a nasty spiteful inhumane and malicious Council.
Do they care? The Council never cares, even though they have a duty of care, they don't care at all.
So treat your property with consideration, you never know someone might have their eye on it, like that man who applied for planning and was refused, reluctantly he sold the property, the new owner from the council got planning. Very, very strange.
It is clear that to protect one`s property interests, one has to have a certain degree of knowledge, or at least some instinctive nous, or the wherewithal to pay for professional advice and be guided through the maze that is planning law !
Officers and Members have more knowledge of the system, than the average layman...that is how these mysteries happen. Is it an abuse to possess more knowledge than the avarage layman ??
DRUID....there is enough on planning in Anglesey to merit its own BLOG !
Blin o Fon.
There is no excuse for lack of clarity and lack of duty of care when handling planning applications and planning permissions, there is a ad hoc attitude and a mean malicious streak that destroys people's will and destroys lives and livelyhoods.
Can you do a blog on planning disputes and suspicious activities here, or will the idiots feel threatened.
john joskin
I happen to have some knowledge in these matters and, only if the Druid agrees, I should be pleased to comment on anything planning-related !??
Blin o Fon.
Hi All - as someone commented above, just writing about Planning on Anglesey would be a whole blog to itself. However, if anyone (Blin o Fon?) wants to write a 'guest post' on planning I'd be happy to post it on here.
I shall be pleased to comment on anything planning related, as and when, but not to lead it.
Blin o Fon.
If the Planning blog can be created, it could be very penetrating and can get at the heart of the issues that the people of Anglesey find so disturbingly disgusting.
This blog could cause a storm of outrage with this scandalous Council, they cannot stand stringent re-examination of affairs that bring their dirty dealings up to the surface.
An opportunity for the Druid of Anglesey to become more readable, sceptical and original of modern political issues in Wales.
Would it be possible to have the real Anglesey 2 planning story on the blog?
x marks the spot
( where I buried my volvo)
Blin o Fon - thank you. Anybody have any suggestions which planning issues we should take a look at?
The statement the Halbert said that he thought the council was acting right..did that mean it was ok for the council to say there was no planning when there was planning?
Did that mean it was ok to lie about an enforcement notice?
Did that mean it was ok not to give the anglesey 2 a site licence?
Did that mean it was ok for the council to say there was highway objections when they later admitted tehre was no highway objections?
Did that mean that it is ok for the council to ignore the Human Rights Act?
Did that mean it's ok for English Law to dictate what Welsh people do with their own property.
Did that mean it was ok for the council to give the new owner a new licence after 24 hours when the Anglesey 2 waited for nearly 30 years for the council to admit they forgot to give them a licence.
If there is one planning issue that needs looking at it's the Anglesey 2, let's not cloud the blog with legal bull, let's get the planning issue out.
Why did they not get a licence? they had planning permission,all along, they couldn't use the site without a valid licence SO why didn't the Council give them a licence, this is for the planning expert and the Licence expert to answer, it's up to you Blin of Fon.
Public inquiry for the Anglesey 2.
We demand a public inquiry for the Anglesey 2 and an inquiry into the handling of the planning file by the Council.
We support the Anglesey 2.
To Blin o Fon.
How difficult is it to have a public inquiry into the handling of a planning file?
Are there Human Rights Issues here?
We have all heard about the taping and filming goings on in the Council Chambers, would it be best to ask Gwynedd to assist in this Inquiry, didn't they have one into the handling of the Agecrest Planning File?
It is in the public interest that the people of Anglesy have a public inquiry into the handling of the planning file of the Anglesey 2, we are all tax payers, why should there be one law for one and another for a Welsh Family?
Who is best to start this campaign for a public inquiry?
If Anglesey Council refuse to, can we have one without them if they haven't got the time, or they don't know what to do, or maybe they are too busy, searching for an excuse for the missing enforcement notice?
Can Gwynedd intervene here, as mediators to, or moderators to have this Iquiry?
What is the criteria to have a public inquiry into the handling of a planning file by an incapable Council?
Tax Payer and Voter of Anglesey.
Planning law is a complex specialist business.
It is the law that binds the planning system together. The system exists to regulate and control the use and development of land....IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.
The private property rights of individuals are, in planning law, secondary to the aggregate common good. This has been the law since at least 1948. It will not change.
The system has reasonable and quite effective checks and balances, to safeguard the rights of applicants for planning permission, or certificates of lawfulness in uncertain scenarios.
These are - rights of appeal (3 methods including public inquiry) to an independent Planning Inspectorate, judicial review (JR) by the Court, of procedural irregularities in decision-making, and redress against injustice by the Ombudsman.
In a public inquiry appeal there is the opportunity for both sides to articulate their argument and to be examined, and cross-examine; a fairly robust adversarial process with lawyers on both sides. Credible evidence is key.
In JR the Court can only look for some irregularity in the decision-making process, and if found, can only remit the decision back to the same decision-maker, it can`t make the decision for itself or interfere in what is called planning judgement, a subjective beast indeed !
So if an aggrieved appellant has gone through these processes, and failed, his case must be fairly weak ??
Human Rights comes into play in planning only under Article 1 of Protocol 1 - Rights to peaceful enjoyment of Possessions. It might apply for instance if one is being dispossessd one` home by someplanning objective. A complex field.
Have the Anglesey 2 been dispossessed of their home ?
Have they taken legal advice on the HR issue ?
This is a synopsis of how the law of planning pans out in practice...........!
From what I can gather their case is in Strasbourg the European Court of Human Rights, and has been there nearly 3 years now, so if there was something amiss it would had been thrown out by now.
You always refer to planning, but what about the site licence, their father died, yet the council still would NOT transfer the licence to the brothers even on his death. Surely that is interference with property, as far as I know all they wanted was a licence they had planning all along, the planning issue was just a ploy to stop them giving the brothers a licence. there was a case like this before, the site owner had no licence so his wife was jailed, the crafty owner transferred the business to his wife! He had no licence so he carried on running a caravan park, his wife was in jail, the brothers had a caravan park, a licence in their fathers name, all the council had to do was transfer it, they wouldn't.
Even after the planning appeal, they still wouldn't transfer the licence.
The brothers sold the land at a loss, the new owner gets a licence in 24 hours, is that justice, never mind planning, is this right or is it english business over welsh families, or english council employess over welsh families?
You know the answers blin o fon, what about the licence.
How many caravan site licences does Elwyn Schofield have?
To Blin o Fon
You say planning law is in THE PUBLIC INTEREST, we say the abuse and torture of a welsh family by planning law is in THE PUBLIC INTEREST too.
If you work for the planning department of this Council, where is the ENFORCEMENT NOTICE.
We want a public inquiry into the torture of the Anglesey 2 by the planning law, it is in THE PUBLIC INTEREST OF ANGLESEY TAX PAYERS.
There can be no freedom for the Anglesey 2 if there case was built on planning law which is an English Law, when all they wanted was a site licence, no one ever mentions this, it's all planning and English Law, why didn't they get a licence? why did the new owner get a licence if the planning was the same, but one was a welsh family the other an English Immigrant.
There is PUBLIC INTEREST HERE, one law for the WELSH and another for the IMMIGRANTS FROM ENGLAND.
Maybe the man whose job it was, was to give the Welsh brothers a licence was an IMMIGRATNT FROM ENGLAND.
THE PUBLIC INTEREST HERE GROWS, WHY WAS THIS WELSH FAMILY PERSECUTED UNDER PLANNING LAW AND TORTURED BY NOT GIVING THEM A SITE LICENCE.
We demand an inquiry into the way this WELSH FAMILY HAVE BEEN TREATED.
NO LICENCE FOR WELSH FAMILY, LICENCE FOR ENGLISH ONLY.
The bad old days of the crwban.." WELSH NOT"
YMA O HYD
Interesting comments, if not a little heated ?
Planning law is Westminster law, legislated by our elected MPs.
There is no law for the English, and a different one for the Welsh.....it is one and the same.
A public inquiry into this affair is out of the question.... the case has run its course...the planning issues are extinguished, at least in the UK.
What grounds of appeal are to be argued in the ECHR I don`t know....I have no knowledge of the particular facts of the case and shall not comment from a position of ignorance.
The Anglesey 2 probably have not done themselves any favours by not employing legal and expert representation.....which will have prolonged the dispute, and increased its costs, which you say they must now bear. Great pity.
ps. I am not a Council Officer....and I challenge them all the time !
To anyone who is interested in researching it, caravan site licensing comes under -
Caravan Sites & Control of development Act 1960,Part 1....see section 10 in particular.
You can Google it !
There is the right of appeal to the magistrates Court.
I assume the Anglesey 2 will have been down this path ??
The Anglesey 2 was still denied a licence it didn't matter what they did their property was called a festering eyesore, and the new owner got a licence even before they had sold the land!
WELSH NOT
The Anglesey 2 is a case of ethnic cleansing, a case of WELSH NOT have we gone back to the days of English Rule.
WELSH NOT
There is a distinct smell of suspicious behavioue when you read about the Anglesey 2, someone somewhere has messed up badly, if all the brothers wanted was a licence, then common sense says they should have got one.
I spoke to someone today and mentioned the Anglesey 2, he had a comment to say which I want to add here.
" This case should had been settles years ago, but someone in the Council has behaved maliciously against them, therefore the Council is duty bound to protect this employee even though he has destroyed this family and business" end of quote.
I had to write it down, because YOU all need to know. There are people who work there, and this name keeps cropping up, who shouldn't be there, and now they are protecting him. Thank you. Hope the bees are well.
Conspiracy theories.
Evidence ?
Let's hope the truth all comes out in The European Court of Human Rights, the European Union, the only place to have breaches of HUman Rights Investigated.
Best of luck to them I say. It must be awful being Welsh and being screwed by your own Country and Countrymen.
Afon Goch
Do you have Human Rights in Wales?
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