A Hendy man is claiming that he is being discriminated against by Carmarthenshire County Council. Wayne Erasmus who says he is autistic and has mental health issues has been battling with a condition known as ‘hoarding’. Mr Erasmus claims he has been issued with a notice to clear up his garden following complaints from his neighbours but only found out about the notice from a member of the public a short time before it was due to be enforced today, Monday (Oct 30).
Mr Erasmus claims that the council are not implementing the same rules for other neighbours in the area who also have overgrown gardens. He claims that the council have not taken into account his mental health issues under the Disability Act (2010).
Mr Erasmus says that he has been receiving help from volunteers and social services to deal with his condition but that social services have also let him down. He claims that despite requests to social services for help with holding off the enforcement order no one would come out.
Llanelli Online were present outside the home of Mr Erasmus when an enforcement officer, contractors and police turned up to try and gain access. There was a long stand off with Mr Erasmus even bringing his dog out to protect his property. Phone calls were made to social services and Mr Erasmus made one call to the county council’s Head of Housing Robin Staines.
After explaining his situation to Robin Staines Mr Erasmus was given a 14 day stay of execution of the order and advised to seek help in clearing his garden. We have been told that a meeting is taking place this week between enforcement officers and volunteers to seek ways of helping Mr Erasmus clear his garden.
In a statement from Carmarthenshire County Council County executive board member for environmental enforcement Cllr Philip Hughes said: “We are in a legal dispute with the householder and we will follow due process while recognising the person’s situation.”
You can watch the story as events unfolded here:
Council Enforcement against Wayne Erasmus from Llanelli Online on Vimeo.
More people are reading Llanelli Online than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. Llanelli Online’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.
