Wall proves stubborn barrier to agreement

The controversial wall

AN accountant is threatening to sue Oldham Council as a long-running legal battle over a collapsed wall rumbles on.

The authority has now rebuilt the retaining wall that collapsed in Selden Street, Coppice, in January, 2006, and says it will bill Arshad Mahmood and a neighbour for the costs.

But Mr Mahmood, who runs accountants Arshad and Co in Yorkshire Street, insists the wall belongs to the authority and has refused to pay.

Fallen
He is furious that the council has dragged him through the courts and publicly declared that he is responsible.

He says a recent valuation estimates his house has fallen £82,000 in value and he will sue to recover the difference.

Mr Mahmood claims the council has rebuilt the wall at 1.7 metres rather than the previous height of 4 metres, which has left his sloping garden unusable and on full view.

The wall is at the back of Mr Mahmood’s Newport Street home and was built nearly 100 years ago, before his house was constructed. His insurance company has refused to pay out as it agrees the wall does not belong to him.

After six court hearings that failed to resolve the case, the council decided to go ahead with the £85,000 repairs and charge the householders.

Seldon Street was blocked for nearly three years by the collapse.

Mr Mahmood claims the council took him to magistrates court, rather than the county courts, to put him under pressure but magistrates could not rule on the matter.

He applied for building regulations to do underpinning to his house to prevent further problems and paid the fees but claims the application was refused because of the dispute. The council says his notice was not in sufficient detail.

Mr Mahmood said: “The council has tried different legal methods to put me under pressure to rebuild the wall.

“I have lost value on the property due to the low level wall. The council did this on purpose and misled the planning department, councillors and MPs that I’m in default of the court order.

“The council paid themselves with taxpayers money but they are giving the wrong impression to the public that they are spending their money on a wall that’s under private ownership when they have not proved the ownership in court.”

The 52-year-old, who has lived in the house for 20 years and spent thousands on legal fees, says he and wife Shahida were lucky not to be killed when the wall collapsed inches from their lounge and that the legal fight was making him ill.

Councillor John McCann, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Environment said: “Oldham Council is currently finalising the costs of the work that was carried out in default and will be seeking to recover them from the owners of 28 and 30 Newport Street.”