The following are transcripts from letters received from nearby residents.
All of them confirm the continuous and long-standing residential history of my bungalow.
This evidence was presented to the Council and ignored. Copies of the original letters with full names and addresses are held on file.
Hungaria
Warren Lane
Lydden
Dover
Kent.
10/4/1988
To whom it may concern.
I purchased my land of 3.5 acres, from Mr J C Pearce in 1956. I built a bungalow on the land where I have lived until the present time. When I purchased my land ‘The Oaks’ was lived in by a Mr & Mrs Pickard. Mr Pickard was a miner and he rented the property from Mr Pearce. Some time in the 1956 the bungalow was purchased by a Mr Gibbs he lived in the bungalow for a few years and sometime in the mid sixties the place was sold to a Miss Dickinson who was a school teacher. As far as I can recall the last time she lived in the bungalow was 1981. In the few years up until that time she used it regularly for holidays and weekends. I well remember her asking me when she wanted to sell the place to clear the garden as it was very overgrown. She had to sell the place as her health was failing and she could not keep the place on. The bungalow was then empty for about three years until the present owner moved in. I urge that planning permission be granted so that the residential use of the land known as ‘The Oaks’ can continue.
Yours sincerely
Z. Farkas
Lyoak Wood Farm
Ewell Minnis
Warren Lane
Lydden
16th April 1988
To whom it may concern
Re: ‘The Oaks’ formerly known as ‘The Bungalow’ Warren Lane, Lydden Having farmed in Warren Lane for the past forty-two years. I have always known the property as a residential dwelling. Occupied in 1947 by the Pickard family until I think about 1956 then owned by a Mr Gibbs who sold it in 1965 to the Dickinson family and used as a holiday home by Miss Dickinson until approx 1981 when due to illness the property was sold to the present owner Mr P. Moulder. Who has my wholehearted support for his planning application to continue the residential use.
Yours faithfully
Bryan E. R. Cake.
Chalksole Farm
Alkham
11-4-1988
To whom it may concern
I have lived at Chalksole Farm since 1920 and have farmed the land adjoining The Oaks since 1928.
The bungalow has been lived in by various families since 1928 until it became empty approx 7 years ago until the present owner moved in.
I have been a Parish Councillor for the past 45 years, 30 years as chairman.
Yours faithfully
George Kirby
58 Beaufoy Road
Dover
CT17 0HT
2/2/1988
Distribution:
Mr. Jim Horne (Council Solicitor)
Mr. Moulder
Dear Sir,
I read the report in Dover Express 29/1/88 concerning THE OAKS, Warren Lane, LYDDEN and I feel I must put the record straight about the bungalow being lived in.
My wife and her parents moved into the bungalow about 1934 and her parents lived there continually until about 1956 or 57. It was known as The Bungalow, Little London, Ewell Minnis.
Rent was paid to the owner, Mr Pearce, Wellington House, Lydden.
The ground was fully cultivated with lawns and hedges kept trim and tidy. It wasn’t until the family moved that the bungalow and its ground deteriorated. Another family moved out for our family to move in. I am surprised this information has never been found before.
Maybe at this late hour it may prove useful.
Yours faithfully
Mr E R Holmes
.. Siberts Close
Sheperdswell
Nr Dover
Kent. CT15 …
23 February 1988
Dear Sir,
Having read recently in the Dover Express the intentions of Dover District Council to make Mr Peter Moulder of The Oaks, Warren Lane, Lydden to demolish his home.
I would like to point out that my family farmed for many years in Warren Lane and have always known ‘The Oaks’ (formerly The Bungalow) to have been residential dwellings.
Yours faithfully
V J S…….
Little London Farm,
Warren Lane,
Lydden,
Dover,
Kent. CT15 7EB
Department of the Environment,
Room 908,
Tollgate House,
Houlton Street,
Bristol BS2 9DJ.
Yr.ref. APP/X2220/C/85/885.
2nd September 1985
Dear Sir,
The Oaks (formerly The Bungalow), Warren Lane, Lydden, Dover, Kent.
While recognising absolutely the need for planning regulations, particularly in respect of development in rural areas, I am of the opinion that due regard should be given to the historic use made of any particular area and the fate that may befall it should the traditional use be abandoned.
The site known as ‘The Oaks’ has traditionally been the location of a dwelling which in recent years has been used only as holiday accommodation. In the immediate past it has not been occupied at all.
It seems to me that in repeatedly refusing to grant planning permission for the site, Dover District Council has sought to change the status of that small area without offering any satisfactory explanation for its action and is now seeking to prevent its rehabilitation by means of renovation. To remove the residential status of a property by virtue of the fact that it is unoccupied, without establishing abandonment and/or, its unsuitability for human habitation and seeking a closing order, is to create a precedent that will cause concern to all owners of unoccupied property in the area.
While recognising the desirability of not adding to the rural population by allowing developments for residential use I can see no justification for contributing to de-population in what is already a sparsely populated area.
As I have indicated the property has, in recent times, been used as a holiday home by virtue of which it has been unoccupied for much of the year. A fact which has become known and has led to the property being broken into on a number of occasions, a situation that has in turn led to the adjacent property, itself unoccupied for much of the year, and my own property to be visited by thieves.
Since ‘The Oaks’ has been occupied there have been fewer incidents. In the event that the Enforcement Notice is upheld I fear the abandoned site will be used as a dumping ground for household refuse as have so many similar sites in remote rural areas.
The site is wedge shaped and surrounded by mature oaks which would have to be removed if the site were to be brought into agricultural use, such a course would be uneconomic and detrimental to the environment.
Should it be decided that the work carried out on ‘The Oaks’ requires Planning Permission, I urge that it be granted retrospectively in order that the ‘status quo’ be maintained and the problems I have outlined, avoided.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Finnis