I have to admit to being surprised yet again by Barratt Homes.  When we thought that Barratt Homes had stooped to the lowest levels of untrustworthiness and lies*, and had demonstrated an absolute lack of integrity, they’ve somehow managed to grind themselves even lower.

You may recall from previous blogs about Barratt and their co-conspiritors, they have tried filming the Meadow Lane junction previously and have ignored the ICO CCTV code of practice and Data Protection Act.

Probably, because they got caught last time, they thought they’d have another go, but this time they have broken every rule in the book!

To film traffic, which captures images of not only vehicles, but also adults and children walking on Meadow lane and Longton Road, they are supposed to place the  cameras where they can been seen and to place LARGE notices around the area warning people of what they are doing, including their company details so that people can ask for their personal information to be excluded, given that this is an invasion of privacy.  This is particularly important to residents at the moment due to a spate of burglaries in the area, to re-assure that filming is legal and is not being done by criminals surveying activity to plan their next break-in.

So… on the morning of Friday 17th Feb, a strange car was spotted next to the petrol station      sporting a hidden camera!   When approached by an eagle-eyed resident, the driver was less than helpful and claimed to not know who she was working for and had made every attempt to conceal her filming operations rather than to follow the law and ICO’s guidance.   Sounds more like the behaviour of criminals than a (tongue in cheek) “reputable” house building company!   The driver had actually tried to conceal the camera under coats placed on the dashboard of the car.

The driver did not want her photograph taken, citing this as an invasion of her privacy!  I ask you, honestly… and she could not see the problem in covertly filming residents!

So here are a couple of images of what she was up to for you to form your own opinion ( identifiable images removed of course ).

Committee Hearing

So more bad behaviour from Barratt Homes is sadly only to be expected as the time is fast approaching for the Planning Committee hearing or expiry of their application.

Although Barratts are still wriggling around trying to conjure up more fantasy road layouts, and ‘alternative facts’, the actual facts are set to get their ill-founded plans rejected.

The vast majority of Barratt’s Transport proposals are based on mis-represented data and mis-representation of planning and transport guidance, so we are confident that Council Transport Planning Officers have multiple grounds based on the actual facts to refuse the application.

*(a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.).  This being evidenced in their own documents!