Council not helping

I have always said that in a large number of cases Wigan Council does not help people. One of the people I am helping at the moment is \some one that had a piece of land at the side of their home. This land became notorious for dumping on and also was left to become overgrown and looking a mess. The residents contacted the Council to ask to tidy it up they said it was not their land but the people complaining about. So they set a foot to clean the area up and fence it off to make sure people did not dump on it no longer. They spent a lot of time and money on this so that it was a whole lot nicer than what it was. Then once all the work was complete pop up Wigan Council legal dept saying that they did not own the land but it was the property of Wigan Council and they had to take down the fence and return the land to how it was.

After going back and forward for 12 months I have helped broker a deal where by the residents leave the land as it is and they lease the land of the Council. This was all agreed and just as they were about to sign the lease another letter turned up from the planning dept saying that they had to pay a hefty fee and get planning permission or return the land back to how it was. Did no one in Wigan Council think of this in the last 12 months while we were sorting this out?

One of the things that I say Wigan Council should do is to communicate between depts better.