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Council pledges action on property misery
From the Bolton Evening News, first published Wednesday 12th Jul 2000.
ACTION will be taken against homeowners whose neglect of their property makes life a misery for their neighbours, vows Bolton Council.
On Monday the BEN told how Breightmet residents are complaining about a lack of help from the Council to deal with a dilapidated private bungalow.
The furious neighbours had been told that the property in Oakhill Close is not sufficiently untidy or dilapidated enough to warrant action being taken despite broken windows, missing roof tiles, a tumbledown garage and overgrown garden.
But Bolton Council's head of planning control stressed that the law does not allow enforcement to be taken over property just in a poor state of repair. "It must seriously affect the amenity of the area," said Mr Howard Barritt.
"The sort of place where the front garden is used for storage of scrap vehicles or waste tipping. A lot of people feel we can act in cases we are not able to."
He stressed that the council does take the state of property seriously and since 1996 has issued 13 enforcement notices under section 215 of the planning act ordering householders to make improvements.
Environmental Health officers can take separate action where a householder's actions are a threat to public health.
But after reading Monday's story one Bolton businessman says the Council is not doing enough to tackle homeowners who do not take care of their property. Jeff Hartley, who runs Jeff James hairdressers on Blackburn Road, fears his own business will go up in flames because of the state of the terraced house next door which is being repeatedly vandalised.
He said: "I have spent money revamping my shop. I feel like I am losing customers because of the state of the house."
Mr Hartley who has owned his shop for 15 years says all was well until the previous elderly owner died five years ago and the new owner, who does not live on the premises, failed to maintain the property.
"I have spoken to the owner and he just shakes his shoulders and says he has no money," he said.
"The council should make people do more about it."
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