An open letter to Brent Council
Brent Council reach the level of a Third-World despot
28th July 2008 « Corrupt Council
Revised: 27-1-09
[Published originally in February 2008]
A catalogue of failure
Since the late 1990s, most of my complaints to Brent Council's 'housing service' regarding the inconsiderate use of laundry equipment and several other forms of nuisance by a neighbour went unresolved. The Council failed adequately to deal with them, and ignored most of these complaints. Repeatedly, the Council have refused to resolve nuisance caused by this neighbour's use of laundry equipment. The Council's apathetic response lead directly to an assault on me by this neighbour in January 2004.
My complaints, subsequently, to the Ombudsman in 2002/3, and again in 2005/6, resolved just two of these complaints against this neighbour. Many of the complaints put to the Ombudsman on both occasions are related to the Council's failure adequately and fairly to deal with the nuisance presented by this neighbour. None have been resolved, all have been ignored and still are outstanding.
A chronicle of lies
In 2002/3 and again in 2005/6, the Council lied to the Ombudsman regarding events leading to the Council's failure to deal with my complaints against this neighbour. The Council lied to the Ombudsman regarding the Council's knowledge of evidence in support of these complaints.
The Council failed to draw the Ombudsman's attention to evidence in the Council's possession supporting my complaints of nuisance. The Council withheld from the Ombudsman evidence and information in the Council's possession regarding the nature of the harassment and degree of nuisance presented by this neighbour. In addition, the Council presented inaccurate information to the Ombudsman regarding events which took place during visits to my home relating to these complaints.
The Council presented inaccurate information, also, to a Councillor in 2003 regarding these complaints against this neighbour.
A dangerous liaison
Documents which I had presented to the Council have vanished, as also has information presented verbally to Council employees while in my home, with the Council later claiming no knowledge of this information. The Council appears motivated by a self-serving culture and with a callous disregard for residents of the London Borough of Brent.
Residents, therefore, will be unwise to allow Council employees into their homes for interviews without ensuring they have an incontrovertible record of the proceedings which have taken place there. This could be in the form of notes agreed by both parties as accurate, and left in the resident's possession before leaving the resident's home. Alternatively, the resident should create an audio or video recording of the meeting.
In the links here and elsewhere throughout this site, Council employees [whose identities currently are hidden] have shown themselves to be dishonest. They are a liability to residents of the borough, are motivated by a self-serving culture and with a callous disregard for residents.
A sale of rights
The Council's refusal to deal with nuisance caused by the inconsiderate use of laundry equipment is influenced by the existence of a leasehold agreement between the Council and this neighbour. In creating this leasehold agreement, Brent Council have made a private agreement with a third party which, effectively, removes the rights I held when I took tenancy of this address over twenty years ago.
That this private agreement blatantly is against my interests is illustrated by this leaseholder's persistent refusal to use their laundry equipment at reasonable hours. The Council have failed to monitor nuisance caused by this neighbour's wilful abuse of this leasehold agreement in the period 2002–2006, resulting in an unacceptable toll on my health. This cannot be fair.
A loathing engendered
Throughout the years, I have shown respect to the Council and to its employees through trust and courtesy. Since 2001, the Council have betrayed that trust and shown contempt for that courtesy. My relationship with Brent Council can never be the same again. Since 2005, I have lost all respect for the Council and if the Council wish to regain that respect, it has much work ahead to redress the wrong done to me.
The Council must resolve my complaints which have arisen through its failure adequately to deal with the nuisance presented by this neighbour over a ten-year period. For far too long, the Council have hidden behind inadequacies in the Ombudsman's powers of investigation, but it will hide no longer. To quote the tag-line from a recent Council glossy publication, 'Give respect – Get respect'.
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