Council slammed over ‘criminal’ work on homes in Upper Weston

Claims of criminality have been levelled at Bath & North East Somerset Council over work carried out on two listed houses without permission.

Wellington Buildings in Weston village

9 and 10 Wellington Buildings at Upper Weston are council-owned and Grade II listed.

Bob Goodman, a former Tory councillor for Combe Down and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors with “considerable knowledge” of listed buildings, made the allegations at a council meeting on 17th July.

He said: “Some councillors will recall my speech to full council in May of last year concerning the fact that this council and its officers carried out work to two listed buildings without consent and this was known by officers back to 2019 when an inquiry took place and the findings were not disclosed and nothing happened.

“The breach was admitted by senior officers who indicated that the tenants would be moved out and work begin on the reinstatement as soon as possible. I then estimated that each property would take £150,000 to repair.”

Mr Goodman said that “by chance” a friend had recently showed him particulars of a letting of No.10 Wellington Buildings: “You cannot imagine how immensely disappointed I was to see this criminal act had been totally ignored by this council.

“Looking at the photographs my friend took also showed me it appears that all the ceilings in the property were replaced with plasterboard when they were lathe and plaster in the first place, without listed building consent, so rectification is now likely to cost over £200,000 per house.

“To let the properties, knowing that a criminal offence had been carried out, is truly shocking.”

Mr Goodman accused senior officers, the cabinet and council leaders of being “complicit”. He added: “I have consulted a barrister who was truly shocked to see the evidence I presented.

“He said to see a local authority to continue to ignore the law is quite appalling and they have many questions to answer.

“He confirmed that local authorities are still bound by the law and there is no exemption. The consequence for the local authority is that officers can be prosecuted for unauthorised works, or knowing of, unauthorised works.

“The matter can be referred to police but is more likely to be dealt with by the Crown Prosecution Service and Historic England, who will lead the prosecution. Indeed, documents have been sent to them.”

Mr Goodman added: “A listed building application has not been lodged over two years since it was accepted that this breach had occurred. I called for an independent inquiry when I last spoke and that of course has been completely ignored.”

He said it was a case of “Bates versus the Post Office all over again”.

Councillor Colin Blackburn (Westmoreland, Independent) asked Mr Goodman how long the chief executive had known about the criminal act committed by the council.

Mr Goodman replied: “I first brought this to the attention of officers in Jan/February 2023 and I was told at the time that the chief exec was informed.”

We asked B&NES Council to respond to the allegations and received a one-line statement saying: “We currently have a live listed building application for internal and external alterations at 9 Wellington Buildings with a target date of 10 September.”

The application was lodged on 16th July, the day before the council meeting. It covers both 9 and 10 Wellington Buildings, despite the address being shown as No.9 only. It reveals the works that don’t have listed building consent are:

• The ensuite bathrooms to first-floor bedrooms. The application seeks their regularisation.
• The approved replacement of windows at the front was not implemented during consented works. Like-for-like repairs are now proposed.
• The new rear doors are different to the consented proposals. Approval is sought to regularise their appearance.
• Plastic soil vent pipes and aluminium roof water guards are not cast iron as consented. Cast iron replacements, painted white to match the neighbouring buildings, are proposed.
• Cementitious mortar has been used in repointing works instead of lime. New lime mortar is proposed to replace all cement-based pointing.
• Opening-up works confirmed that the modern render is attached to a contemporary concrete blockwork and cavity wall construction. However, the render is said to be in a good condition and not causing harm, so it is proposed to leave it in place. Rear boundary walls have been rendered with the same product as the extensions and the application seeks to leave that in place too.