09 September 2017 - Witness Statement detailing the fraud and conspiracy to defraud by Caroline Nokes MP
WITNESS STATEMENT of DONALD GEORGE JERRARD concerning a complaint of fraud and conspiracy to defraud by Mrs Caroline Nokes MP, Councillor Roy Perry and others in submitting documentation concerning the conversion of a dilapidated garage block into a self-contained residence or separate residential accommodation in the garden of Moorland, Canada Road West Wellow, Hampshire the home of Caroline Nokes MP
I am Donald George Jerrard of The Coach House, Petersfield Road, Greatham, Liss, Hampshire GU33 6AB.
1. I am making this statement to explain how Mrs Caroline Nokes MP arranged for the conversion of a dilapidated garage block at her home in the parish of Wellow into a self-contained residence or separate residential accommodation for the use of her parents Councillor Roy and Mrs Veronica Perry without obtaining planning permission. This statement will show that in doing so Mrs Nokes instructed her agent, Mr Graham Jenkins, to make the false statement on her behalf that the garage block was a coach house which had been previously used for residential use. Mrs Nokes also allowed or instructed her agent to sign a false Certificate of Ownership in a planning application submitted to the New Forest National Park Authority (NFNPA) stating that her sister, Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham, was the sole owner of her home. This had the possible effect that the planning application was considered under delegated powers prior to a NFPNA Planning Committee meeting on 16 December 2014 and did not get the normal scrutiny for an application made by or for the benefit of a local councillor.
2. My interest in the case arose from my role as a retired former solicitor and the co-founder and now Leader of the Justice & Anti-Corruption Party (the JAC Party). The JAC party was formed in April 2010 with the intention of exposing corruption in public life and helping victims of abuse of power. I was admitted as a solicitor in April 1976. I have been an elected Parish Councillor at various times in three Parish Councils in East Hampshire since May 2003. I first stood for election because of my concern about financial and planning corruption in East Hampshire, especially in what was then the proposed South Downs National Park (SDNP). I have a total of about twelve years’ experience as Chairman of the Planning Committee of two of these Councils all of which are wholly or partly within the SDNP. Accordingly I have extensive knowledge and experience of the practice and procedures for planning matters, especially in National Parks.
3. Cllr Roy Perry is the father of Mrs Nokes. He was born on 12 February 1943 and is the present Leader of Hampshire County Council. Cllr Perry first became a local councillor when he became a member of Eastleigh Borough Council in 1970. Cllr and Mrs Perry then moved to Wellow near Romsey and he was a member of Test Valley Borough Council from 1979 to 1994. He was Leader of that Council between 1985 and 1994. He was elected a Member of the European Parliament for the Isle of Wight and Hampshire South Constituency in 1994 and remained as an MEP until 2004. In 2005 he was elected to Hampshire County Council and re-elected in 2009 and 2013 when he became Leader of the Council. He was re-elected as Councillor and Leader in May 2017.
4. Cllr Perry’s wife, Mrs Veronica Perry, was a member of Wellow Parish Council for many years and its longstanding Chairman until she retired as a Parish Councillor in 2011. Mrs Perry was a longstanding member of Wellow Parish Council’s Planning Committee until her retirement in 2011.
5. Cllr and Mrs Perry have two daughters, Elizabeth and Caroline. Caroline was born on 26 June 1972 and has been the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North since the constituency was created in 2010. She married Marc Nokes in 1995 and since then has been known as Mrs Caroline Nokes. After graduating from University in 1994 Mrs Nokes became a researcher and policy adviser to her father in the European Parliament. Her elder sister was employed as an office manager and Mrs Perry was employed as a secretary. In 1997 Ms Elizabeth Perry was the Conservative Party candidate for Romsey Town in the Hampshire County Elections.
6. Mrs Nokes was a member of Test Valley Borough Council for the Romsey Extra Ward from 1999 until 2010. Throughout this time Mrs Nokes was a member of the Test Valley Borough Council Planning Committee. From 2014 to 2015 she was Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions. In July 2016 Mrs Nokes was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DWP. Mrs Nokes lists her particular interests as international development, sport, the equine industry, the environment, energy, animal welfare, family law, local government and planning. She has recently spoken in a debate on planning policy. It is clear that Mrs Nokes and her parents are extremely experienced in planning law and procedures. In fact their combined experience as members of Hampshire County Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Wellow Parish Council must be well in excess of 60 years.
7. Another local politician closely involved with this matter is Cllr Ian Hibberd. Cllr Hibberd has been a Conservative Member of the Test Valley Borough Council since May 2003 and is also the Mayor of Romsey. His wife Teresa Hibberd has been a member of Romsey Extra Parish Council since May 2007.
8. For many years Mr and Mrs Perry and their daughters lived at Tarrants Farmhouse in West Wellow. In 1995 Caroline Perry married Marc Nokes, and in 2001 Elizabeth Perry married Jonathan Higham, from whom she later divorced before marrying Paul Bellingham. Mr Bellingham apparently works in Florida, USA and has lived there with his wife, now called Elizabeth Bellingham, for some while.
9. On 25 August 2004 Marc and Caroline Nokes purchased Moorland for £685,000. Moorland is a substantial family house believed to be built in the late 19th Century with a rectangular garden of 0.66 hectare which contained the original house a dilapidated garage block, probably built at the same time as the main house, a stable building and further sheds and stables. Moorland is situated within the NFNP which was designated as a National Park in 2005. The NFNP’s Planning Development Control Committee is made up of 8 Local Authority appointed Members and 6 Secretary of State appointed Members. Cllr Hibberd was the Test Valley Borough Council appointed member of the NFNP Planning Development Control Committee from 2013 until May 2015.
10. Shortly after the General Election in May 2010 Mrs Nokes was exposed in the national newspapers for having had an affair over a period of several years with a 27 year old Conservative Councillor and former executive of the Party’s youth wing. It appears that this eventually led to divorce proceedings which resulted in Mrs Nokes becoming the sole owner of Moorland in April 2014.
11. By this time the garage block, which had been used to store Mr Nokes’ agricultural equipment was in a very dilapidated and dangerous state. In May 2013 the garage block was the subject of an informal notification that a Repairs Notice would be served by the local authority (TVBC) following the collapse of part of the roof unless urgent repairs were undertaken. Urgent repairs were carried out but the position worsened during the storms in January and February 2014. Below is a picture taken of the garage block on 9 January 2014.
I am Donald George Jerrard of The Coach House, Petersfield Road, Greatham, Liss, Hampshire GU33 6AB.
1. I am making this statement to explain how Mrs Caroline Nokes MP arranged for the conversion of a dilapidated garage block at her home in the parish of Wellow into a self-contained residence or separate residential accommodation for the use of her parents Councillor Roy and Mrs Veronica Perry without obtaining planning permission. This statement will show that in doing so Mrs Nokes instructed her agent, Mr Graham Jenkins, to make the false statement on her behalf that the garage block was a coach house which had been previously used for residential use. Mrs Nokes also allowed or instructed her agent to sign a false Certificate of Ownership in a planning application submitted to the New Forest National Park Authority (NFNPA) stating that her sister, Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham, was the sole owner of her home. This had the possible effect that the planning application was considered under delegated powers prior to a NFPNA Planning Committee meeting on 16 December 2014 and did not get the normal scrutiny for an application made by or for the benefit of a local councillor.
2. My interest in the case arose from my role as a retired former solicitor and the co-founder and now Leader of the Justice & Anti-Corruption Party (the JAC Party). The JAC party was formed in April 2010 with the intention of exposing corruption in public life and helping victims of abuse of power. I was admitted as a solicitor in April 1976. I have been an elected Parish Councillor at various times in three Parish Councils in East Hampshire since May 2003. I first stood for election because of my concern about financial and planning corruption in East Hampshire, especially in what was then the proposed South Downs National Park (SDNP). I have a total of about twelve years’ experience as Chairman of the Planning Committee of two of these Councils all of which are wholly or partly within the SDNP. Accordingly I have extensive knowledge and experience of the practice and procedures for planning matters, especially in National Parks.
3. Cllr Roy Perry is the father of Mrs Nokes. He was born on 12 February 1943 and is the present Leader of Hampshire County Council. Cllr Perry first became a local councillor when he became a member of Eastleigh Borough Council in 1970. Cllr and Mrs Perry then moved to Wellow near Romsey and he was a member of Test Valley Borough Council from 1979 to 1994. He was Leader of that Council between 1985 and 1994. He was elected a Member of the European Parliament for the Isle of Wight and Hampshire South Constituency in 1994 and remained as an MEP until 2004. In 2005 he was elected to Hampshire County Council and re-elected in 2009 and 2013 when he became Leader of the Council. He was re-elected as Councillor and Leader in May 2017.
4. Cllr Perry’s wife, Mrs Veronica Perry, was a member of Wellow Parish Council for many years and its longstanding Chairman until she retired as a Parish Councillor in 2011. Mrs Perry was a longstanding member of Wellow Parish Council’s Planning Committee until her retirement in 2011.
5. Cllr and Mrs Perry have two daughters, Elizabeth and Caroline. Caroline was born on 26 June 1972 and has been the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North since the constituency was created in 2010. She married Marc Nokes in 1995 and since then has been known as Mrs Caroline Nokes. After graduating from University in 1994 Mrs Nokes became a researcher and policy adviser to her father in the European Parliament. Her elder sister was employed as an office manager and Mrs Perry was employed as a secretary. In 1997 Ms Elizabeth Perry was the Conservative Party candidate for Romsey Town in the Hampshire County Elections.
6. Mrs Nokes was a member of Test Valley Borough Council for the Romsey Extra Ward from 1999 until 2010. Throughout this time Mrs Nokes was a member of the Test Valley Borough Council Planning Committee. From 2014 to 2015 she was Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions. In July 2016 Mrs Nokes was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DWP. Mrs Nokes lists her particular interests as international development, sport, the equine industry, the environment, energy, animal welfare, family law, local government and planning. She has recently spoken in a debate on planning policy. It is clear that Mrs Nokes and her parents are extremely experienced in planning law and procedures. In fact their combined experience as members of Hampshire County Council, Test Valley Borough Council and Wellow Parish Council must be well in excess of 60 years.
7. Another local politician closely involved with this matter is Cllr Ian Hibberd. Cllr Hibberd has been a Conservative Member of the Test Valley Borough Council since May 2003 and is also the Mayor of Romsey. His wife Teresa Hibberd has been a member of Romsey Extra Parish Council since May 2007.
8. For many years Mr and Mrs Perry and their daughters lived at Tarrants Farmhouse in West Wellow. In 1995 Caroline Perry married Marc Nokes, and in 2001 Elizabeth Perry married Jonathan Higham, from whom she later divorced before marrying Paul Bellingham. Mr Bellingham apparently works in Florida, USA and has lived there with his wife, now called Elizabeth Bellingham, for some while.
9. On 25 August 2004 Marc and Caroline Nokes purchased Moorland for £685,000. Moorland is a substantial family house believed to be built in the late 19th Century with a rectangular garden of 0.66 hectare which contained the original house a dilapidated garage block, probably built at the same time as the main house, a stable building and further sheds and stables. Moorland is situated within the NFNP which was designated as a National Park in 2005. The NFNP’s Planning Development Control Committee is made up of 8 Local Authority appointed Members and 6 Secretary of State appointed Members. Cllr Hibberd was the Test Valley Borough Council appointed member of the NFNP Planning Development Control Committee from 2013 until May 2015.
10. Shortly after the General Election in May 2010 Mrs Nokes was exposed in the national newspapers for having had an affair over a period of several years with a 27 year old Conservative Councillor and former executive of the Party’s youth wing. It appears that this eventually led to divorce proceedings which resulted in Mrs Nokes becoming the sole owner of Moorland in April 2014.
11. By this time the garage block, which had been used to store Mr Nokes’ agricultural equipment was in a very dilapidated and dangerous state. In May 2013 the garage block was the subject of an informal notification that a Repairs Notice would be served by the local authority (TVBC) following the collapse of part of the roof unless urgent repairs were undertaken. Urgent repairs were carried out but the position worsened during the storms in January and February 2014. Below is a picture taken of the garage block on 9 January 2014.
12. After she became the sole owner of Moorland Mrs Nokes apparently made the decision to convert the garage block into a self-contained residence for the use of her parents, Cllr and Mrs Roy Perry. She and her parents should have known that it is against usual planning policy in all National Parks for separate dwellings to be constructed in the garden of a house of this type and location. One reason for this is that to allow one new residential unit to be constructed within the garden of a house of this type in the National Park would set a precedent for others which might destroy the character of the neighbouring environment. There are many houses with similar stable/garage blocks near to Canada Road so this was a particular danger in this area. Furthermore the garage block actually formed the wall to the next door property. Any outbuilding in a garden of this type should be at least 2 metres from the boundary of a neighbouring house.
13. Nevertheless Mrs Nokes’ agent, Mr Graham Jenkins, took pre-application advice about development at Moorland including the conversion of the garage block by letter dated 6th August 2014. A copy of this letter has just been provided to me following a request under the Freedom of Information Act and is attached as Tab 1. The letter has the heading “Moorland Canada Road, West Wellow, Nr Romsey Hampshire” and starts by saying that “My client the owner of the above property is proposing the following building works – “. At that date Mrs Nokes was the sole owner of the property according to Land Registry records.
14. The documents enclosed with the letter of 6th August 2014 date stamped as received by NFNPA on 11 August 2014 included
“ Coach house plans as existing drawing no 1081/1
Coach house proposals also showing stables and eventual garage drawing no 1082/5A
Plans as existing main house drawing no 1082/2
Plans as proposed main house drawing no 1082/6
Planning submission statement
Draft bat report following an inspection on site”.
15. I now have copies of all these documents following the Freedom of Information Act request, although the draft bat report dated July 2014 was and still is on the public file. I was provided in April 2017 with copies of the so-called “Coach house plans” and “Coach house proposals” and these are shown in the text of this witness statement below. A copy of the Planning Submission Statement is attached as Tab 2 and a copy of the Bat Survey July 2014 (final report) is attached as Tab 3. It should be noted that the Bat Survey is stated on the front cover as being “For Mrs Caroline Nokes”.
16. The response to the request for pre-application advice was set out in a letter dated 19 August 2014 from Ms Deborah Slade, Senior Planning Officer at the NFNP. This has now also been revealed following a Freedom of Information Act request and a copy is attached as Tab 4.
17. Mrs Nokes or Cllr Perry had apparently told a neighbour in 2015 before the works were carried out that the garage conversion plans were available to view at the NFNP Planning Department, but the NFNP Planning Department said they were not with the Authority. Apparently a neighbour was told that there was an application for Building Regulation Consent with the Test Valley Borough Council Building Control at Andover but the documents were said to be unavailable for inspection because of data protection legislation. However TVBC Building Control did tell an enquirer that the application was for a residence. A Freedom of Information Act request for disclosure of redacted documentation will now be made.
18. That the application to TVBC was for residential use can now be confirmed because copies of the drawings have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. They were the same as shown to the neighbours. Below is the plan of the garage block as it was in August 2014. The plan shows two garages and store room.
13. Nevertheless Mrs Nokes’ agent, Mr Graham Jenkins, took pre-application advice about development at Moorland including the conversion of the garage block by letter dated 6th August 2014. A copy of this letter has just been provided to me following a request under the Freedom of Information Act and is attached as Tab 1. The letter has the heading “Moorland Canada Road, West Wellow, Nr Romsey Hampshire” and starts by saying that “My client the owner of the above property is proposing the following building works – “. At that date Mrs Nokes was the sole owner of the property according to Land Registry records.
14. The documents enclosed with the letter of 6th August 2014 date stamped as received by NFNPA on 11 August 2014 included
“ Coach house plans as existing drawing no 1081/1
Coach house proposals also showing stables and eventual garage drawing no 1082/5A
Plans as existing main house drawing no 1082/2
Plans as proposed main house drawing no 1082/6
Planning submission statement
Draft bat report following an inspection on site”.
15. I now have copies of all these documents following the Freedom of Information Act request, although the draft bat report dated July 2014 was and still is on the public file. I was provided in April 2017 with copies of the so-called “Coach house plans” and “Coach house proposals” and these are shown in the text of this witness statement below. A copy of the Planning Submission Statement is attached as Tab 2 and a copy of the Bat Survey July 2014 (final report) is attached as Tab 3. It should be noted that the Bat Survey is stated on the front cover as being “For Mrs Caroline Nokes”.
16. The response to the request for pre-application advice was set out in a letter dated 19 August 2014 from Ms Deborah Slade, Senior Planning Officer at the NFNP. This has now also been revealed following a Freedom of Information Act request and a copy is attached as Tab 4.
17. Mrs Nokes or Cllr Perry had apparently told a neighbour in 2015 before the works were carried out that the garage conversion plans were available to view at the NFNP Planning Department, but the NFNP Planning Department said they were not with the Authority. Apparently a neighbour was told that there was an application for Building Regulation Consent with the Test Valley Borough Council Building Control at Andover but the documents were said to be unavailable for inspection because of data protection legislation. However TVBC Building Control did tell an enquirer that the application was for a residence. A Freedom of Information Act request for disclosure of redacted documentation will now be made.
18. That the application to TVBC was for residential use can now be confirmed because copies of the drawings have been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. They were the same as shown to the neighbours. Below is the plan of the garage block as it was in August 2014. The plan shows two garages and store room.
19. Below is the plan for what was proposed which shows a house with three bedrooms (two are described as a ftness room and studio) two shower rooms, a substantial kitchen, a family room and dining area.
20. Below is a photograph of the garages and store sheds in August 2014.
There is also the same view of the North East elevation of the building at Plate 4 on page 16 of the Bat Survey.
21. It seems that Mrs Nokes’ agent continued to correspond with the NFNPA Planning Department because a revised Planning Application Submission Statement was received by the NFNPA on 9 October 2014, accompanied by the final version of the Bat Survey. It may have been that Mrs Nokes’ agent submitted a planning application at that time, at least in draft form, but the application was eventually date stamped as received on 29 October 2014, A copy of the application form is attached as Tab 5.
22. There is an Executive Summary at page 1 of the Bat Survey the first paragraph of which reads as follows:-
Moorland is a residential property situated in the village of Canada, Hampshire in the New Forest National Park. Mrs Caroline Nokes owns the property which consists of a house, derelict coach house and stables. Mrs Nokes wishes to extend the house and convert the coach house for residential use.
23. Both the Planning Application Submission Statement and the Bat Survey refer to the garage block as “the coach house” and say on several occasions that Mrs Nokes wishes to extend the house and convert the coach house for residential use. For example the first paragraph of section 1.2 of the Bat Survey states that “Mrs Caroline Nokes wishes to submit a planning application to the NFNP Authority for to extend the house and convert the coach house to residential use (sic).” The second paragraph of section 1.3 says that “The coach house will be renovated to re-establish residential use”. In fact the garage block is not and never has been a coach house, and it has never been used for residential use. That has been stated by various neighbours, some of whom have lived in the area for nearly 50 years. Further page 17 of the Bat Survey contains six photographs which show the inside of the garage block in July 2014. It was quite clearly uninhabitable and had always been so.
24. The relevant pre-application planning advice regarding what Ms Slade correctly described as the existing garage/ store in the letter dated 19 August 2014 is as follows:-
“Finally, I note your intention to ‘renovate’ the existing garage/ store for ancillary purposes. As this building lies within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse, and does not appear to be subject to any planning conditions, then I do not consider that you would need planning permission to repair it, or to use it for ancillary purposes. Using the building as a self-contained unit i.e. a dwellinghouse in its own right would require planning permission, as would your proposal to make an extension/alteration to the building to provide a ‘garden room’ to the ancillary building. I am concerned that this extension looks overtly ‘habitable’ and out (sic) policies do not provide for extensions to ancillary buildings. I would not encourage you to pursue this aspect of the proposals as the overall effect is then one of a large, habitable building. Modest alterations such as the shuttered doors may be acceptable but I would advise you to ensure that the stable/tack remained as simple as possible and not provide ‘accommodation’. Any ‘extension’ to the floorspace of this ancillary building would also add to the 30% so could not be supported for that reason.”
Ms Slade also included a paragraph in her letter stating:-
“Please be advised that this is informal advice made without the benefit of a site visit or consideration to any third party comments, and is offered without prejudice to the determination of any subsequent planning application.”
25. Had Ms Slade (or another planning officer) made a site visit and spoken to any third parties it would have been immediately apparent that the ancillary purpose of the building was for stabling, garaging and for storage for the use of the main house and had never been for residential use. The comment made by Ms Slade that “I would advise you to ensure that the stable/tack remained as simple as possible and not provide ‘accommodation’ demonstrates that Ms Slade very likely accepted the statement in the Bat Survey that “The coach house will be renovated to re-establish residential use”. There never had been residential use of this building. Mrs Nokes and her parents would have known from their many years of planning experience that planning permission is almost always needed for a change of use of buildings to residential instead of stables, garaging or storage. However this was never tested because Mrs Nokes did not make a planning application for conversion of the garage/ store to residential accommodation. She simply instructed her builder to make the conversion without planning permission.
26. It seems that Mrs Nokes’ agent continued to correspond with the NFNPA Planning Department because a revised Planning Application Submission Statement was received by the NFNPA on 9 October 2014, accompanied by the final version of the Bat Survey. It may have been that Mrs Nokes’ agent submitted a planning application at that time, at least in draft form, but the application must have been withdrawn because the Application which eventually came to be considered by the NFNPA Development Control was received on 29 October 2014. A copy of the application form is attached as Tab 5.
27. The Application is for
“2 STOREY & SINGLE STOREY
EXTENSIONS TO EXISTING DWELLING (MOORLAND)
ERECTION OF DOUBLE GARAGE
ERECTION OF 2 STABLES – BARN & STORE”
There is no reference in the application form to any work to be carried out to the garage/ store.
28. The Applicant Name and Address is given as Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham of ‘Moorland’ Canada Road Wellow. Mrs Bellingham is of course the sister of Mrs Nokes, who lives in Florida and has never been resident at Moorland, other than as a visitor. The Certificate of Ownership (section 11) states that she, the Applicant, is the sole owner of Moorland. Mrs Nokes was and still is the sole owner and this Certificate would therefore appear to have been deliberately falsified. The Declaration at section 13 states
“I/we hereby apply for planning permission/consent as described in this form and the accompanying plans/drawings and additional information. I/we confirm that to the best of my/our knowledge any facts stated are true and accurate and any opinions given are the genuine opinions of the person(s) giving them”.
This was in fact signed by Mrs Nokes’ Agent, Mr Graham Jenkins.
29. This Declaration and the Declaration of Ownership must therefore have been a deliberate falsehood by the Agent for Mrs Nokes. One possible advantage to Mrs Nokes in having people believe that Mrs Bellingham was the applicant is that it may have avoided the public scrutiny that normally applies to a planning application by a politician. All subsequent correspondence with the Agent and documentation on the file shows Mrs Bellingham as the Applicant.
30. The Application was referred to Wellow Parish Council and considered at its planning meeting on 1 December 2014. As is normal an agenda for the meeting was copied to Cllr Roy Perry as the County Councillor for Wellow. Mrs Perry attended the meeting. The consideration of the application for the extensions at Moorland was the first Agenda Item. The Parish Council objected to the application. The minutes of the meeting show that the Decision of the Committee included the comment that
“(iii)There is also concern about the Coach House – it is unclear whether proposed works to this building will represent permitted development and the Council would ask that the NFNPA ensure that any necessary planning permissions are sought”.
31. The NFNPA’s website on Planning Development Control Committee states
“We took over the planning function on 1 April 2006 and delegated this responsibility to our Planning Development Control Committee. We operate a scheme of delegation where all applications may be determined by the Director of Strategy and Planning subject to certain exceptions. However certain categories of applications will be referred to this Committee for determination. These include
32. This Application should have been referred to the Committee because the Senior Planning Officer and the Case Officer had been put on express notice that Mrs Nokes was considering converting the garage block for residential use and the Parish Council had expressly requested that the NFNPA should ensure that any necessary planning permissions were sought. Any application to convert the garage block for residential use would very likely be contrary to approved policies which the Senior Planning Officer or the Case Officer should have told Mrs Nokes.
33. It is also important that the Applicant was named as Elizabeth Bellingham, who lived in Florida, which disguised the fact that Mrs Nokes was planning to convert the garage block for the use of her parents. Cllr Perry is the Leader of Hampshire County Council which sends designated members to serve on the NFNPA. That puts him in the same position as a member of the NFNPA and the Application should have been referred to the Planning Development Control Committee for that reason alone by the Director of Strategy and Planning in collaboration with the Monitoring Officer. Whether they were required to do so or not Mrs Nokes and Cllr Perry did not disclose their pecuniary interest in the Application made in the name of Mrs Bellingham.
34. Moreover the Application should have been referred to the NFNPA Planning Development Control Committee by the designated member from the Test Valley District Council. That was Cllr Ian Hibberd who must know Cllr Perry very well, and that his daughter lives at “Moorland”. Indeed Cllr Hibberd’s wife, Teresa Hibberd, was Cllr Perry’s Seconder in his recent nomination in April 2017 as Conservative candidate for the Romsey Rural Division of Hampshire County Council. Cllr Hibberd was also the Chairman of the Romsey and Southampton North Conservative Association quite recently.
35. In any event the Application by Mrs Bellingham was not referred to the next meeting of the Planning Development Control Committee on 16 December 2014. That meeting was attended by Cllr Hibberd as the designated representative of Test Valley Borough Council. At that meeting an application for a Garden Store was heard by the Committee because it was contrary to Parish Council View with the application presented by Deborah Slade as Case Officer. Another application for a 2 storey building was refused, after being referred to the Committee by the Parish Council, partly because the building would encroach outside the curtilage of the main house, just as the garage block does at Moorland.
36. The Application by Mrs Bellingham was given permission under delegated powers on 16 December 2014. There is no mention of the garage block in the Decision Notice, or in the Case Officer’s Report.
37. On 1 April 2015 Cllr & Mrs Perry sold Tarrants Farmhouse for £465,000 and since then have given their address as “Moorland”, Canada Road, West Wellow, which is the home of Mrs Nokes. In September 2015 Cllr Perry informed his next door neighbours that his builder would be starting work on a conversion of the garage block and access would have to be provided to enable the builder to do so. The builder then proceeded to carry out the work needed to convert the garage block to a separate self-contained residence which neighbours say has been and is occupied by Cllr & Mrs Perry. No work at all has been started to extend Moorland, as set out in the Decision Notice. The garage block and adjoining store have not been increased in external size as contemplated in the plans shown above. However neighbours have confirmed that the separate house seems to have been constructed in accordance with the plans, without the increased size contemplated in place of the sheds beside the store room.
38. Additionally a photograph from “Google Earth” shows utilities being laid directly to the now converted garage/ store.
39. Thus the garage block has now been converted into a separate residential unit without planning permission for change of use. This has been done after a series of false statements implying that the garage block had at some time in the past been used for residential use. That is demonstrably not the case.
40. It is understood that there have been at least two complaints to the NFNPA about this but the complainants were refused copies of important documents from the planning files which would show what happened. These include the Application Form (or correspondence) and associated documents apparently submitted and received on 9 November 2014. However the letter dated 19 August 2014 has now been provided as explained above. So also has the letter dated 6 August 2014 which confirms that it was the owner of Moorland, which is Mrs Nokes, who instructed Mr Graham Jenkins to seek Pre-application advice and to submit the Planning Application Submission Statement in early October 2014. Mrs Nokes is also responsible for the false statement made by Mr Jenkins that her sister, Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham, is the sole owner of Moorland.
41. As stated there are references to correspondence with the Test Valley Borough Council as long ago as May 2013, but copies are not on any file available for public examination at the NFNPA offices. The correspondence regarding the pre-application advice is also not available on the public files. However there is on file a letter from Mr Jenkins, the agent named in the application, dated 13th November 2014, in response to an email dated 7th November 2014 from the Case Officer, Emma MacWilliam. Within that letter from Mr Jenkins is a paragraph stating
“With reference to your email, the coach house building is not part of this planning application.”
That letter is date stamped as received on 4 December 2014. Whether that is accurate or not, there is therefore no dispute that before the application was decided on 16 December 2014 it had been clarified that there was no application in respect of the so-called “coach house”. This confirms that the conversion of the garage block and sheds into residential accommodation did not have planning permission. It is possible that Mrs Nokes may argue that planning permission was not needed because the garage block had been used as a residence in the past but that is clearly not true. Alternately Mrs Nokes may argue that the use of the building as a garage is “residential” use. However that cannot be right because if it were so every former stable block, now used as a garage, at the edge of the New Forest could be converted into and used as living accommodation without planning permission.
42. However there is also another serious concern in that the situation regarding payment of the correct rate of Council Tax at the property does not seem to have been addressed. There is no question that Cllr and Mrs Perry are living in Moorland or the converted garage block but there is no Council Tax rating for the so-called Coach House and Moorland remains “F” rated. By contrast when a barn at Tarrants Farmhouse was converted into residential accommodation in the early 1990s the converted barn was “G” rated, as was Tarrants Farmhouse. Another County Councillor within the constituency converted a shed and it was given an “A” rating put on what was described as “Annex to [the main house]” while the main house is “F” rated.
43. It is very concerning that the local MP and her father the Leader of Hampshire County Council may not be paying the correct amount of Council Tax, which mainly goes to the County Council. That can no doubt be corrected in due course but it will not be possible to change the fact that the Application Form received by NFNPA on 29 October 2014 contained a Certificate of Ownership saying that Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham was the sole owner of Moorland when it was her sister, Mrs Nokes, who was. It is also clear that statements were made implying that the garage block had been used for residential purposes, which is also untrue. The garage block has therefore been converted into a residential house possibly worth several hundred thousand pounds without planning permission.
44. Accordingly I submit this witness statement in support of my complaint that Mrs Nokes has committed fraud by making false statements in a planning application, and apparently conspired with others in doing so. There should also be a proper investigation by the NFNPA into what happened in this case and the appropriate sanctions taken against those responsible for any breach of planning regulations or for making false or misleading statements in any documents submitted in the course of making a planning application.
Statement of truth
I believe that the facts stated in this statement are true.
Signed by
Donald G Jerrard 9 September 2017
21. It seems that Mrs Nokes’ agent continued to correspond with the NFNPA Planning Department because a revised Planning Application Submission Statement was received by the NFNPA on 9 October 2014, accompanied by the final version of the Bat Survey. It may have been that Mrs Nokes’ agent submitted a planning application at that time, at least in draft form, but the application was eventually date stamped as received on 29 October 2014, A copy of the application form is attached as Tab 5.
22. There is an Executive Summary at page 1 of the Bat Survey the first paragraph of which reads as follows:-
Moorland is a residential property situated in the village of Canada, Hampshire in the New Forest National Park. Mrs Caroline Nokes owns the property which consists of a house, derelict coach house and stables. Mrs Nokes wishes to extend the house and convert the coach house for residential use.
23. Both the Planning Application Submission Statement and the Bat Survey refer to the garage block as “the coach house” and say on several occasions that Mrs Nokes wishes to extend the house and convert the coach house for residential use. For example the first paragraph of section 1.2 of the Bat Survey states that “Mrs Caroline Nokes wishes to submit a planning application to the NFNP Authority for to extend the house and convert the coach house to residential use (sic).” The second paragraph of section 1.3 says that “The coach house will be renovated to re-establish residential use”. In fact the garage block is not and never has been a coach house, and it has never been used for residential use. That has been stated by various neighbours, some of whom have lived in the area for nearly 50 years. Further page 17 of the Bat Survey contains six photographs which show the inside of the garage block in July 2014. It was quite clearly uninhabitable and had always been so.
24. The relevant pre-application planning advice regarding what Ms Slade correctly described as the existing garage/ store in the letter dated 19 August 2014 is as follows:-
“Finally, I note your intention to ‘renovate’ the existing garage/ store for ancillary purposes. As this building lies within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse, and does not appear to be subject to any planning conditions, then I do not consider that you would need planning permission to repair it, or to use it for ancillary purposes. Using the building as a self-contained unit i.e. a dwellinghouse in its own right would require planning permission, as would your proposal to make an extension/alteration to the building to provide a ‘garden room’ to the ancillary building. I am concerned that this extension looks overtly ‘habitable’ and out (sic) policies do not provide for extensions to ancillary buildings. I would not encourage you to pursue this aspect of the proposals as the overall effect is then one of a large, habitable building. Modest alterations such as the shuttered doors may be acceptable but I would advise you to ensure that the stable/tack remained as simple as possible and not provide ‘accommodation’. Any ‘extension’ to the floorspace of this ancillary building would also add to the 30% so could not be supported for that reason.”
Ms Slade also included a paragraph in her letter stating:-
“Please be advised that this is informal advice made without the benefit of a site visit or consideration to any third party comments, and is offered without prejudice to the determination of any subsequent planning application.”
25. Had Ms Slade (or another planning officer) made a site visit and spoken to any third parties it would have been immediately apparent that the ancillary purpose of the building was for stabling, garaging and for storage for the use of the main house and had never been for residential use. The comment made by Ms Slade that “I would advise you to ensure that the stable/tack remained as simple as possible and not provide ‘accommodation’ demonstrates that Ms Slade very likely accepted the statement in the Bat Survey that “The coach house will be renovated to re-establish residential use”. There never had been residential use of this building. Mrs Nokes and her parents would have known from their many years of planning experience that planning permission is almost always needed for a change of use of buildings to residential instead of stables, garaging or storage. However this was never tested because Mrs Nokes did not make a planning application for conversion of the garage/ store to residential accommodation. She simply instructed her builder to make the conversion without planning permission.
26. It seems that Mrs Nokes’ agent continued to correspond with the NFNPA Planning Department because a revised Planning Application Submission Statement was received by the NFNPA on 9 October 2014, accompanied by the final version of the Bat Survey. It may have been that Mrs Nokes’ agent submitted a planning application at that time, at least in draft form, but the application must have been withdrawn because the Application which eventually came to be considered by the NFNPA Development Control was received on 29 October 2014. A copy of the application form is attached as Tab 5.
27. The Application is for
“2 STOREY & SINGLE STOREY
EXTENSIONS TO EXISTING DWELLING (MOORLAND)
ERECTION OF DOUBLE GARAGE
ERECTION OF 2 STABLES – BARN & STORE”
There is no reference in the application form to any work to be carried out to the garage/ store.
28. The Applicant Name and Address is given as Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham of ‘Moorland’ Canada Road Wellow. Mrs Bellingham is of course the sister of Mrs Nokes, who lives in Florida and has never been resident at Moorland, other than as a visitor. The Certificate of Ownership (section 11) states that she, the Applicant, is the sole owner of Moorland. Mrs Nokes was and still is the sole owner and this Certificate would therefore appear to have been deliberately falsified. The Declaration at section 13 states
“I/we hereby apply for planning permission/consent as described in this form and the accompanying plans/drawings and additional information. I/we confirm that to the best of my/our knowledge any facts stated are true and accurate and any opinions given are the genuine opinions of the person(s) giving them”.
This was in fact signed by Mrs Nokes’ Agent, Mr Graham Jenkins.
29. This Declaration and the Declaration of Ownership must therefore have been a deliberate falsehood by the Agent for Mrs Nokes. One possible advantage to Mrs Nokes in having people believe that Mrs Bellingham was the applicant is that it may have avoided the public scrutiny that normally applies to a planning application by a politician. All subsequent correspondence with the Agent and documentation on the file shows Mrs Bellingham as the Applicant.
30. The Application was referred to Wellow Parish Council and considered at its planning meeting on 1 December 2014. As is normal an agenda for the meeting was copied to Cllr Roy Perry as the County Councillor for Wellow. Mrs Perry attended the meeting. The consideration of the application for the extensions at Moorland was the first Agenda Item. The Parish Council objected to the application. The minutes of the meeting show that the Decision of the Committee included the comment that
“(iii)There is also concern about the Coach House – it is unclear whether proposed works to this building will represent permitted development and the Council would ask that the NFNPA ensure that any necessary planning permissions are sought”.
31. The NFNPA’s website on Planning Development Control Committee states
“We took over the planning function on 1 April 2006 and delegated this responsibility to our Planning Development Control Committee. We operate a scheme of delegation where all applications may be determined by the Director of Strategy and Planning subject to certain exceptions. However certain categories of applications will be referred to this Committee for determination. These include
- applications referred by Members
- applications where the Parish Council has expressed a view contrary to the planning officer
- applications which are contrary to our approved policies which are recommended for approval.”
32. This Application should have been referred to the Committee because the Senior Planning Officer and the Case Officer had been put on express notice that Mrs Nokes was considering converting the garage block for residential use and the Parish Council had expressly requested that the NFNPA should ensure that any necessary planning permissions were sought. Any application to convert the garage block for residential use would very likely be contrary to approved policies which the Senior Planning Officer or the Case Officer should have told Mrs Nokes.
33. It is also important that the Applicant was named as Elizabeth Bellingham, who lived in Florida, which disguised the fact that Mrs Nokes was planning to convert the garage block for the use of her parents. Cllr Perry is the Leader of Hampshire County Council which sends designated members to serve on the NFNPA. That puts him in the same position as a member of the NFNPA and the Application should have been referred to the Planning Development Control Committee for that reason alone by the Director of Strategy and Planning in collaboration with the Monitoring Officer. Whether they were required to do so or not Mrs Nokes and Cllr Perry did not disclose their pecuniary interest in the Application made in the name of Mrs Bellingham.
34. Moreover the Application should have been referred to the NFNPA Planning Development Control Committee by the designated member from the Test Valley District Council. That was Cllr Ian Hibberd who must know Cllr Perry very well, and that his daughter lives at “Moorland”. Indeed Cllr Hibberd’s wife, Teresa Hibberd, was Cllr Perry’s Seconder in his recent nomination in April 2017 as Conservative candidate for the Romsey Rural Division of Hampshire County Council. Cllr Hibberd was also the Chairman of the Romsey and Southampton North Conservative Association quite recently.
35. In any event the Application by Mrs Bellingham was not referred to the next meeting of the Planning Development Control Committee on 16 December 2014. That meeting was attended by Cllr Hibberd as the designated representative of Test Valley Borough Council. At that meeting an application for a Garden Store was heard by the Committee because it was contrary to Parish Council View with the application presented by Deborah Slade as Case Officer. Another application for a 2 storey building was refused, after being referred to the Committee by the Parish Council, partly because the building would encroach outside the curtilage of the main house, just as the garage block does at Moorland.
36. The Application by Mrs Bellingham was given permission under delegated powers on 16 December 2014. There is no mention of the garage block in the Decision Notice, or in the Case Officer’s Report.
37. On 1 April 2015 Cllr & Mrs Perry sold Tarrants Farmhouse for £465,000 and since then have given their address as “Moorland”, Canada Road, West Wellow, which is the home of Mrs Nokes. In September 2015 Cllr Perry informed his next door neighbours that his builder would be starting work on a conversion of the garage block and access would have to be provided to enable the builder to do so. The builder then proceeded to carry out the work needed to convert the garage block to a separate self-contained residence which neighbours say has been and is occupied by Cllr & Mrs Perry. No work at all has been started to extend Moorland, as set out in the Decision Notice. The garage block and adjoining store have not been increased in external size as contemplated in the plans shown above. However neighbours have confirmed that the separate house seems to have been constructed in accordance with the plans, without the increased size contemplated in place of the sheds beside the store room.
38. Additionally a photograph from “Google Earth” shows utilities being laid directly to the now converted garage/ store.
39. Thus the garage block has now been converted into a separate residential unit without planning permission for change of use. This has been done after a series of false statements implying that the garage block had at some time in the past been used for residential use. That is demonstrably not the case.
40. It is understood that there have been at least two complaints to the NFNPA about this but the complainants were refused copies of important documents from the planning files which would show what happened. These include the Application Form (or correspondence) and associated documents apparently submitted and received on 9 November 2014. However the letter dated 19 August 2014 has now been provided as explained above. So also has the letter dated 6 August 2014 which confirms that it was the owner of Moorland, which is Mrs Nokes, who instructed Mr Graham Jenkins to seek Pre-application advice and to submit the Planning Application Submission Statement in early October 2014. Mrs Nokes is also responsible for the false statement made by Mr Jenkins that her sister, Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham, is the sole owner of Moorland.
41. As stated there are references to correspondence with the Test Valley Borough Council as long ago as May 2013, but copies are not on any file available for public examination at the NFNPA offices. The correspondence regarding the pre-application advice is also not available on the public files. However there is on file a letter from Mr Jenkins, the agent named in the application, dated 13th November 2014, in response to an email dated 7th November 2014 from the Case Officer, Emma MacWilliam. Within that letter from Mr Jenkins is a paragraph stating
“With reference to your email, the coach house building is not part of this planning application.”
That letter is date stamped as received on 4 December 2014. Whether that is accurate or not, there is therefore no dispute that before the application was decided on 16 December 2014 it had been clarified that there was no application in respect of the so-called “coach house”. This confirms that the conversion of the garage block and sheds into residential accommodation did not have planning permission. It is possible that Mrs Nokes may argue that planning permission was not needed because the garage block had been used as a residence in the past but that is clearly not true. Alternately Mrs Nokes may argue that the use of the building as a garage is “residential” use. However that cannot be right because if it were so every former stable block, now used as a garage, at the edge of the New Forest could be converted into and used as living accommodation without planning permission.
42. However there is also another serious concern in that the situation regarding payment of the correct rate of Council Tax at the property does not seem to have been addressed. There is no question that Cllr and Mrs Perry are living in Moorland or the converted garage block but there is no Council Tax rating for the so-called Coach House and Moorland remains “F” rated. By contrast when a barn at Tarrants Farmhouse was converted into residential accommodation in the early 1990s the converted barn was “G” rated, as was Tarrants Farmhouse. Another County Councillor within the constituency converted a shed and it was given an “A” rating put on what was described as “Annex to [the main house]” while the main house is “F” rated.
43. It is very concerning that the local MP and her father the Leader of Hampshire County Council may not be paying the correct amount of Council Tax, which mainly goes to the County Council. That can no doubt be corrected in due course but it will not be possible to change the fact that the Application Form received by NFNPA on 29 October 2014 contained a Certificate of Ownership saying that Mrs Elizabeth Bellingham was the sole owner of Moorland when it was her sister, Mrs Nokes, who was. It is also clear that statements were made implying that the garage block had been used for residential purposes, which is also untrue. The garage block has therefore been converted into a residential house possibly worth several hundred thousand pounds without planning permission.
44. Accordingly I submit this witness statement in support of my complaint that Mrs Nokes has committed fraud by making false statements in a planning application, and apparently conspired with others in doing so. There should also be a proper investigation by the NFNPA into what happened in this case and the appropriate sanctions taken against those responsible for any breach of planning regulations or for making false or misleading statements in any documents submitted in the course of making a planning application.
Statement of truth
I believe that the facts stated in this statement are true.
Signed by
Donald G Jerrard 9 September 2017
