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Council row over £6,500 driveway


Workers and police arrive to dig up access

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"We got the go-ahead from Northamptonshire County Council over a year ago – nobody mentioned anything about planning permission"
Cyril Curran
Published Date:
07 August 2008
Corby reporter
A row over planning permission for a driveway in a pensioner's home led to a police confrontation in Danesholme, Corby.
Cyril Curran paid £6,500 to install the driveway on a grass verge outside his home in Lapland Walk earlier this year.

The 76-year-old thought he had the correct permission to build it.

But Corby Council wrote to him in April telling him he did not own the land and to stop work immediately.

Mr Curran completed the work and on Tuesday morning workers arrived to dismantle the driveway brick by brick.

Police officers attended with council officials to monitor the situation as Mr Curran and his family stood and watched the driveway being dismantled.

The pensioner, who has lived in the house for 28 years, said: "I feel absolutely terrible. The last thing we wanted to do was fall out with the council and have a confrontation.

"We got the go-ahead from Northamptonshire County Council over a year ago – nobody mentioned anything about planning permission.

"The council has said it will pay for the work to rip up the drive. The cars are parked on the grass all the year around anyway."

His family said they were told to contact Northamptonshire County Council about getting permission for the driveway and are now seeking legal advice.

A spokesman for Corby Council said: "After the work had been brought to our attention we wrote to the resident on April 2 stating all work on the council's land must cease immediately.

"We notified the resident that our enforcement officer would carry out an inspection on site and that as the land was not in his ownership we would be instructing our legal department to investigate this and take the appropriate action.

"We received no response from the resident, and the work continued and the driveway was completed.

"Our legal department then wrote to the resident again on June 5 instructing the resident to remove the works and reinstate the land to its former condition within 28 days, warning that if it was not done, Corby Council would take legal or other action as appropriate to remove the trespass.

"Action like this is only taken as a very last resort, and with great reluctance.

"If any residents have any concerns about related issues, they can contact the council for advice on 01536 464000."

The full article contains 399 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 07 August 2008 8:19 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Kettering
 
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1

L.Watkins,

Danesholme Corby 08/08/2008 14:46:48
What a waste of time money and resourses, an older couple who care for the disabled and have done for at least 15 years confronted with police and numerous council workers from all trades. I saw the quality of the driveway before it was ripped up it was laid to provide better access for the disabled that this couple care for and as i saw it a huge improvement to other people just parking on the grass and churning it up.
2

L.Watkins,

louise_w2k@hotmail.co.uk 08/08/2008 14:48:35
What a waste of time money and resourses, an older couple who care for the disabled and have done for at least 15 years confronted with police and numerous council workers from all trades. I saw the quality of the driveway before it was ripped up it was laid to provide better access for the disabled that this couple care for and as i saw it a huge improvement to other people just parking on the grass and churning it up.
3

k. fortuin,

Huntington Beach, California 08/08/2008 20:11:17
Corby council should be ashamed of themselves!!! What a disgrace!!!!
4

Beanfield Beast,

09/08/2008 01:00:09
It was a nice looking driveway, however the road is so wide there you could drive a plane down it and despite being told not to pave it by the council, the chap carried on regardless. Whether he'd lived there 1 day or 100 yrs makes no difference, it wasnt his land to build on.
5

stoner,

corby 09/08/2008 06:26:19
I know mr curran very well.he has helped with many chairty events and hardly lets a fund rasing event pass him by,however i know that he has permisson in black and white,also he has dated paper work to prove the council have lied about thier dates and letters to him.his local danesholme councilor was the one who got the permisson for him.
6

Ray Rodden,

Corby 09/08/2008 13:38:49
It is sad that this has happened to the gentleman but the council has a fiduciary duty to maintain and get best value from it's assets, which it holds for the public.

The person concerned should have stopped work and sorted it out.

Do not know the area but perhaps the council could have sold him the land at a reasonable price but they cannot simply let people annex land.

If they did then the council officers and councillors could be liable for the loss if someone complained (and I know at least one gentleman on Oakley Vale who looks for things like this and would have loved to make a complaint to the district auditor)
7

LittleAngel*,

13/08/2008 21:54:14
oh sure..the council care about that, but not the hundreds of trees that got cut down, and the wildlife destroyed near the holiday inn!
8

LittleAngel*,

13/08/2008 21:58:49
I mean really..if the council are that incompetent of seeing that the land is theres while plans are being passed, why should others be punished for their stupidity! They should have been made to remove it all themselves, BY HAND!
9

cleverzippy,

Kettering 18/08/2008 11:24:14
All the trees were cut down by Geddington Road because it suited the council and lined their pockets, they couldn't care less about what or whom it affected just as long as they financially benefitted.
10

Ray Rodden,

Corby 19/08/2008 16:07:48
Uoy cant make and omelette without cracking eggs.

If we want Corby to have a train station, have a larger shopping complex with big name shops, have more employment, have an olympic size pool, put Corby's name on the map for something other than being c**p it means we need to grow larger.

If this means cutting some trees down in an area that is zoned for industry then that is what we must do.

The area will be enclosed between the new road from Barford Bridge to Eurobug roandabout and the existing road to the Holiday Inn. When you build a link road you usually get development along it.

As for stupidity - if you are told there is a problem with a build and to stop and you ignore it and go ahead then what do you expect?

The other point about 'lining the councils pockets'. where do you think the money will come from for the new pool, the new iconic Corby Cube (with library, theatre, bistro, New town square, etc. etc. It does not come from council tax, this, broadly speaking, just pays the running costs. It all comes from capital investment funds which come from the sale of land, etc.

Course, we could stop all development but then, we would all compplain about the 'c**p' council not providing anything, no new homes for the kids to move in to, no .......... you get the point?

Danmed if they do - damned if they dont!
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