Southend Council is being taken to task by a Hadleigh landlord who refuses to bow down to their demands that he must turn his bedsits back into a family home. He has also been ordered to remove the bin store and a bike from the front of the garden.

The landlord, Austin Whitehouse has issued an appeal against the Southend Council's order to revert his six bedsit property back into a single family home. They have also stated that planners are claiming that the bin store is an "eyesore" in the street and must be removed.

Mr. Whitehouse's appeal includes the claim that since 2001 the property has been six bedsits and in 2006 he installed six separate electricity meters, from 2010 he has paid individual council tax.

From 2011 he had also registered separate addresses with the council and the Royal Mail and he is stating that the flats had been around for such a length of time and that the renovations ordered by the council, would be too costly and labour intensive.

The council has ordered Mr. Whitehouse that he can only have one kitchen and bathroom in the property and that he must dispose of the rest of the shower units, toilets, cookers, kitchen units and sinks. 

He also claims that the area that houses the bikes and rubbish stores, formed from the garden wall, conforms to council policy. If bikes were kept inside the property then they would block the narrow hallway.

A public inquiry will take place shortly where a government appointed planning inspector will decide the outcome of the appeal.