Ban warning if Fitties residents breach lease

"IF YOU stay at the Fitties this winter in breach of your lease, you will be removed from the site and your lease will be revoked."

That was the stark warning from North East Lincolnshire Council leader Chris Shaw, who said any Fitties resident caught on the site out of approved hours in the closed season would be permanently thrown off.

The Labour leader said he was taking the hard-line stance in order to "protect the council's asset, as he revealed security teams would be patrolling the "holiday camp" 24 hours a day, seven days a week, during the eight-week closed season.

He said: "The teams will be making sure that no one is on the site that shouldn't be there.

"It will cost what it costs – that is why we charge them what we charge for the lease.

"We have no alternative but to protect the council's interests."

Councillor Shaw added NELC had already been granted a court ruling allowing it to take action against those found to be in breach and it would not hesitate to do so.

He said: "We did something similar last year and got into arguments with some of the residents who believed their Neighbourhood Watch teams should be allowed on to the site after 4.30pm.

"This year, no one but the security teams will be allowed to be there in the evening. He has also previously revealed "evidence is being gathered" in relation to those residents believed to be in breach of their lease.

His statement came after Fitties residents revealed they were taking their fight to be able to stay in the chalets 50 weeks of the year to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

As reported, NELC has long blocked attempts from residents to amend their leases to allow them to stay on the site year round, mainly as the area is a flood risk.

However, at a meeting of Fitties' Owners Residents' Association Bungalow (Forab), it accused NELC of abuse of power, failing to uphold the democratic process and the exploitation of its citizens' human rights.

The group also claims NELC, which is the landlord for more than 300 chalets on the Lincolnshire coast, has refused to renew more than 40 per cent of leases since April 2011, which the residents say leaves them without security of tenure.

At the time of going to press, the Grimsby Telegraph was unable to contact any Forab members.