Greens Place and Corruption

The Prologue to Shed and Corruption which was first published in October 2022, should in retrospect, have been called something like No 71 and Corruption. Unfortunately a pdf document bearing a very similar title was later sent to an Estate Agent in Cardiff and why this post has been given a new title, “Greens Place and Corruption” although the contents remain much the same.

The opportunity to tidy some grammar and to correct typing errors was also taken. There was also the need to establish that there were the two separate issues besides the those associated with the UK Docks. They where:-

1. 1. that the Planning Officer who submitted the plans for approval for the rebuild of 71 Greens Place had disregarded the guidelines laid out in SPD9;
   2. that a Senior Enforcement Officer had ignored the fact, that in the rebuild of 71 Greens Place, the owner had built a roof top garden that was in breach of the condition laid down in ST/0966/12/FUL.

When I asked the Ombudsman to look again at the complaint about the height of UK Docks’ shed, the Ombudsman’s Second Inspector conflated the two complaints and while it was not done by South Tyneside Council they were happy to to maintain the lie that the shed wad been built to the approved height.

The name change and update are required because STC had been economical with the truth when they told an estate agent in Cardiff that the owner of No 71. had permission for its rebuild in 2012-13 in an email of early March, 2023:-

Good Morning Mr Dawson,
Thank you for informing us about your concerns of the planning permission in relation to 71 Greens Place.
Ordinarily, planning permission would be something that was dealt with when an offer had been accepted, rather than at the advertising stage with an Estate Agent. Solicitors would of course complete their due diligence for the sale and purchase and any issues would be uncovered at that point, so it would not be sensible for sellers to try to hide any issues with planning permission.
As you have alerted us to potential issues with the planning, as a professional estate agent, we have completed our due diligence checks on the planning status which is publicly available at South Tyneside Planning Portal with full details of the permission that has been granted.
Many thanks for letting us know your concerns
Kind regards
Levi St John
Senior Sales Valuer
James Douglas Sales & Lettings

The South Tyneside Planning Portal does indeed say that permission had been granted but it is not true and Mr Haig knew that as well which was why he was using someone ‘out of town’ to sell his deceased wife’s house. As soon as it appeared on Prime Location: South Shields, one of his former neighbours who was also aware of the irregularities behind the rebuild of the pair of flats at 71 Greens Place, (let me know) that it was up for sale.

When I decided to move away from South Shields I had a great deal of trouble selling my house which was next door to No. 71 and discovered that, in my absence, some of the Haig’s acquiescences going around saying that I had no permission for the extension built on to back of No 70 and I advised Mr St John of this by reference to No71-and-Corruption.pdf which was a hastily rewritten version of the Prologue to Shed and Corruption.

I got through four estate agents in South Shields and even tried one of those auction houses that one sees on ‘Homes under the Hammer’ and left most of my furniture etc. in storage while I returned to South Shields from Amble, to try and counter the misinformation flying about but to no avail and eventually sold it privately for £160k and it is rather irksome to find a house next door in an 1820’s or 30’s terrace, being advertised well over twice as much, six years later.

Finally, I referred Mr St John to “https://theharbourview.co.uk/blog/prologue-to-shed-and-corruption/”, which showed how an architect was easily persuaded to providing a drawing to save not only Mr Haig the trouble of properly capping the partition wall but also the reputations of a planning officer, her manager, a building inspector and a Senior Enforcement Officer.

The Prologue was an attachment to an email to a former neighbour, 14-Oct-22:-

Hi Melanie,

Thanks for letting me know that Gillian Haig had died. When I said she had been a Director of HB Hydraulics for five years my information was out of date. It looks like she only a director for a couple of years and was ousted when control of the company passed to a Michael John Woolley who was made Chairman in 2019. Ken Haig is still a director, but his occupation is described as ‘engineer’ and it was not long after he was demoted from Chairman that Douglas Haig and Gary Pulford were appointed as Operations Directors in April 2020.

It looks to me like Ken Haig’s fraudulent misrepresentation about the height of UK Docks shed had come to the attention of those of the family based in Portsmouth and he had become a liability and he had to be removed from control of HB Hydraulics but was kept on as a director, simply for his knowledge of the business.

Mr L St John cannot have taken any heed of what I had said as No. 71 is still being advertised by James Douglas Sales and Lettings:- What A Find! You won’t believe your eyes when it comes to this stunning three double bedroom town house set in an elevated position with enviable river views at the front and view of the Roman Fort at the rear!