Saturday: a beautiful frosty, sunny winter's morning in Herne Bay, and time to meet our MP. My fine & beloved woman and I strode up to the dodgy automatic doors of the Herne Bay Council offices and pried our way in. There we found Roger Gale, and Cllr Ann Taylor (HoS) who had kindly made time to see us.
Given that the Evil Land Grab is entirely a Council-level rather than MP-type issue, we asked Roger about the options open to us if the Council behaved illegally. He came up with some sensible suggestions (Secretary of State, Local Government Ombudsman, District Auditor) and a couple of other useful leads.
However, I was taken aback by his views on the covenants. "Twenty-five years experience as an MP... a Council can just say 'Rats!' to a covenant... not worth the paper they're written on...".
Bad attitude, Roger!
I'm disappointed and dismayed to see an elected law-maker wearily accept the spectacle of other elected representatives trampling over covenants. When it comes down to it, even the Law of the land is 'worthless' unless and until it's enforced. The covenants are legally binding, cannot be disregarded, and will be enforced.