One of the government's most senior solicitors has failed in his bid to sue a council which he says "stitched up" his attempts to build his dream cottage. The case saw his fiancée taking the stand to call council officers "bent".

As the Official Solicitor, Alastair Pitblado acts for people who are unable to represent themselves because they lack mental capacity. But as a man in search of the good life, he bought a plot of land for £26,000 in the village of Acol where he and his partner, Catherine Collins, hoped to build a four bedroom cottage. When the council turned down their application, Pitblado represented himself and fought and won an appeal before a government planning inspector. However, he decided he'd had "quite enough" and sold the land for £136,000. But apparently he had not had quite enough of court, and subsequently sued Thanet Council for £150,000, accusing it of "malfeasance in a public office" .

    "Don't worry darling, I do this for a living"

Taking the stand, Collins said the planning authorities used a "bag of tricks" to block the couple's application for their rural idyll, and said that the highway consultation was "bent". Pitblado said he preferred the phrase "stitched up".

The court did not agree and this week Pitblado's claim was thrown out. DWF partner Mark Whittaker, who represented Thanet Council, said that “serious allegations" had been made by Pitblado and Collins which "brought into question the good name of Thanet Council’s planning department". Milking it a bit, he said it was disappointing that ratepayers' money had been wasted defending the "wholly unmeritorious proceedings", which has resulted in the second embarrasing court loss relating to the MoJ in recent days.
Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 22 April 16 07:10

"The case saw his fiancée taking the stand"

I'm sorry. Take the what? What sodding jurisdiction do you think you're in, RoF?