One law for 'US' and one law for the bastards !!!

Dominic Cummings seems to have 'escaped' yet again !!!

Review urged over council tax decision involving site of Dominic Cummings’ trip

PA
Oct 20th 2020 11:26AM
Labour has called for a review of the decision not to charge thousands of pounds in backdated council tax on the property where Downing Street senior adviser Dominic Cummings stayed during his famous Durham lockdown visit.

The leader of Durham County Council, Simon Henig, said there was mounting anger about the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) decision not to pursue council tax on two buildings which had been converted into homes without planning permission at Mr Cummings' parents' farm.

It has been estimated that the backdated council tax bill for the two homes could be more than £30,000, as they were converted some years ago.




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Dominic Cummings
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Councillor Henig has asked senior officers to see if they can appeal against the decision, and will ask for a Parliamentary Review of the VOA's actions.

Mr Cummings and his wife took his son to his parents' farm at North Lodge when the country was in lockdown in April after the adviser and his wife experienced coronavirus symptoms.

It seems that anyone working for the Prime Minister is exempt from the rules that apply to the rest of us

Simon Henig, leader of Durham County Council
It was during this break that he controversially drove to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight.

Mr Henig said: "As a party that is committed to fairness, as soon as we were aware of a potential breach in regulations at North Lodge, council officers were instructed to investigate the matter.

"In turn, Durham County Council alerted the Valuation Office Agency, which provided details of the required changes in respect to property.

"However, while there have been historical breaches of planning and building control regulation, which date back to the time of the former Durham City Council, the current council was unable to take enforcement action due to the amount of time that had elapsed.

"People will want to know how, once again, the Government's senior adviser is avoiding facing any consequences for breaching a set of regulations to which everyone else is expected to adhere.

"It seems that anyone working for the Prime Minister is exempt from the rules that apply to the rest of us.

"I have asked that all options to appeal this decision be considered.

"Furthermore, it is imperative that the Valuation Office Agency be made accountable for this decision in Parliament so that public confidence in the council tax system be maintained."

A Valuation Office Agency spokesperson said: "We can't comment on individual cases. The date to be used for adding a new band to a council tax list, or changing an existing band, is set out in the law.

"The VOA has no discretion to choose a different date.

"The rules apply to all council tax list alterations and all taxpayers in the same way."

 

Forget the council tax, it's the planning that annoys me, if that was an ordinary member of public, building without planning permission they'd want it knocked down!
The problem is these people all piss in the same pot if you get my meaning. I remember several years ago, a mate of mine had bought a farmhouse and some land, he had nightmares with the parish council over planning.
It all came to a head one day when I happened to be on site doing some work, a minibus load of them rocked up to take him to task over some Portland stone he'd used to top off a small wall, apparently it wasn't in keeping with the surrounding properties, the nearest of which was a 1/4 of a mile away. I'd noticed that this other property, all built of stone, had a full width brown upvc conservatory on the back, (how's that in keeping?) anyway by now my mate was really pissed off, they seemed to have it in for him so I told him to leave the talking to me.
There they were, the whole of the parish council, stood in the yard tutting about a few bits of stone, "ok, how much then?" I asked the leader, "how much what?" he replied, "oh come on, I know how it works, how much do you want to pass these plans?" I went on, by now my mate is in a panic, he can't believe I'm trying to blackmail a member of the council!
I get this council leader to follow me into the middle of the field and point out the house with the massive brown conservatory on the back, "look mate that's hardly in keeping either is it? Why don't you go and discuss how much you want with your colleagues, as I said I know how it works, let me know and I'll sort out the cheque"
I walked off and he returned to his group, a few minutes later they boarded their bus and left, my mate was convinced we'd get done for bribary, anyway the following Monday he got a letter from the parish council, 'following our visit last week we can find no reason not to support your planning and have pleasure in informing you that your application has been passed'.
You have to play them at their own game, otherwise you just get crapped on from a great height.

 

So tell us all - which 'Council member' owned the 'other' house ???