Wallasey-based TUC boss Alec McFadden fined in long-running railings row

Aug 5 2009 Birkenhead News

A LEADING trade unionist was prosecuted by Wirral Council, at a cost of almost £5,000, for having railings on the roof of a garage in Wallasey.

Alec McFadden, who lives in Poulton and is president of Merseyside TUC, appeared before a judge at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday to answer charges of breaching the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

He stood accused of constructing railings around the roof of a garage he obtained planning permission for in 1990, after a single complaint was made to the local authority in 2005 by a neighbour Mr McFadden says no longer lives in the area.

His defence rested on the assertion that an ‘explanatory booklet’ had not accompanied the enforcement notice handed to him on May 31 2006, after retrospective permission for the railings had been refused earlier that month.

Judge Stephen Dodds threw out that defence, forcing Mr McFadden to enter a guilty plea.

But the judge referred to the prosecution as “paradoxical”, noting it wasn’t until the defendant attempted to “improve the facility” that objections were raised.

Defending, Tim Hammond said: “The garage in question was built in 1990, when planning permission was granted for a double garage.