Neighbour in balcony battle loses appeal (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Neighbour in balcony battle loses appeal

FORMER council building inspector Terence Griffin yesterday lost his appeal against a conviction for failing to supply Swindon Borough Council with information about who owns his Goddard Road home.

Griffin, found guilty in a magistrates court hearing on October 6 last year, was asked to provide the information after he built a balcony at the house without planning permission.

But Swindon Crown Court heard he believed it did not need planning approval and he felt he did not have to fill in the request for information sent to him by the council's legal department for that reason.

He told Judge John McNaught the case was part of a cloak and dagger operation by the borough council and his neighbours.

"It is nothing to do with the balcony, it is to do with an event on 22 June, 2002 where I supposedly made some very bad remarks that will be denied," he said.

Griffin, who was conducting his own case, said there had been a lot of lies against him from neighbours and members of the council and he claimed his dismissal by the borough council had been totally unjust.

He stated that he had liaised with two planning officers over the building of the balcony

He said both had told him it did not need planning approval.

Tina Meacham, a legal executive in the borough solicitor's department said she made repeated requests under section 330 of the Town and Country Planning Act for information about who had a legal interest in the property, without success.

It was important to have the correct information so enforcement notices could be served on the correct people.

Miss Meacham said she had warned Griffin he was liable for a fine of up to £1,000 if he did not give the details and advised him he could seek advice from the council, solicitors or the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Dismissing the appeal Judge McNaught, sitting with two magistrates, agreed the original fine of £400 was high and lowered it to £200.

But he warned Griffin that he still had to pay court costs of £1,000.

In 1998 Griffin was convicted in of two counts of harassment against his neighbours.

He was made the subject of a restraining order and another indefinite order was imposed in September 2002.