Legal victory allows piles of rubbish to remain

By Guy Martin

A HOARDING homeowner has won a legal victory overturning a council order demanding he tidy up piles of rubbish from his Surrey garden.

Robert Wallace said he stored items to sort through them at a later date and could not understand why people got “on their high horse about it”.

He will now be paid £250 of taxpayers' money by Mole Valley District Council, in court costs.
The 59-year-old retired television engineer was served a notice under Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act by the council in May, Guildford Crown Court heard last Monday (February 15).

He was ordered to remove the plastic bottles, tins, newspapers and other waste, cut back overgrown vegetation and leave the land clear and tidy at his Westcott homes, numbers 4 and 8 Furlong Road.

But he appealed against the decision, at first unsuccessfully at magistrates’ court, and then at the higher court.

He told the judge he was tempted to bring the items into court to show how inoffensive they were.

“If you go into a supermarket people don’t find them offensive,” he said.

“If they are not offensive when they are full, why are they so offensive when they are empty? What is offensive about them?”

Mr Wallace explained the reasons he kept the items.

“The original idea is for them to be re-sorted and categorised because there are some items I want to retain,” he said.

“In the meantime I don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to accumulate without people trying to get on their high horse about it.”

Robert Primrose, senior planning enforcement officer at Mole Valley District Council, said: “It became apparent the two properties were in a state of disrepair...." More

Thirty-three cats found in Plattsmouth rental home

By Patti Jo Peterson

Publish Post

PLATTSMOUTH - Thirty-three cats, two dogs, three ferrets, a wild rabbit and an indeterminate amount of wild mice were found in a Plattsmouth rental house today.

According to Plattsmouth Animal Control Officer Sue Baker many of the animals are sickly and in need of medical care.

"It's sickening. The environment is unhealthy," Baker said. "The cats had cockroaches crawling on them in the kennels."

"They had plenty of food but their living conditions and health is really in question."

Baker and other members of Plattsmouth Police Department removed the animals from the house, 613 Second Ave., where they lived with Cheryl Lillie, Linda Lillie, Beverly Lillie, Dan Wallace and Robert Airhart...

Baker explained, however, that people who take in this amount of animals do not see their actions as cruel.

"It's animal hoarding," Baker explained. A person thinks if he or she doesn't take care of these animals, nobody will, she explained.

"They want to feel like they are needed," Baker said.

Baker said had the police not intervened at the rental house, as many as 500 animals might have been kept there.

"Several were pregnant and several had litters," Baker said.

Kenan said the situation was brought to the attention of police early this week.

"Up until the day, Sue was the only one at the house. She suspected at least 30 cats were inside," Kenan said.

When Cheryl Lillie was questioned about the number of animals, she told Baker, "No way do I have 30 cats in this house."

Child protective services found a place for the 80-year-old Beverly Lillie to stay...  More

Public domain photo