Park Home Enquiry

Park Homes inquiry:

Mrs T Vyse – Right of Reply, to Mr Best’s oral evidence provided to the Select

Committee, on the 19

th March 2012.

For the Public Record

The Select Committee asked Mr Best about the incident concerning a resident at

Scatterdells Park in Chipperfield, Kings Langley (near, but not in, Bovingdon). As Mr

Best gave certain answers which, as the resident in question, I believe to be

inaccurate, and as the fact that a question was asked suggests that the Select

Committee might be interested in receiving an accurate understanding. I invite the

Select Committee also to take into account my perception of the events.

Before I begin, I would also like to put on record that I have received the following

statement from the Dacorum Borough Council (see full email attached)

1

“Dear Toni,

Further to our conversation this afternoon, I write to confirm that a

settlement was reached with Wyldecrest regarding legal costs to the sum of

£15,000 but there was no award of compensation beyond the legal costs.

I am happy for you to quote the above statement on behalf of Dacorum

Borough Council”.

In Mr Best’s evidence, he stated that I had settled myself under the trees as a

form of protest and inferred that I was removed from the trees by him for my own

safety. He also refers to this incident as a clash of personalities. This is not my

recollection of events at all.

In the first instance up until that day had never met Mr Best and therefore I fail

to see how there could have been a clash of personalities prior to the incident. I

had, however, been the Secretary of Scatterdells Park Residents Association and

had therefore been involved in correspondence with both Wyldecrest and the

preceding owners of the Park. For ‘clash of personalities’, I would suggest that Mr

Best saw me as the spearhead of the residents who have had, from time to time, to

take up matters of concern with the park owners. Generally, this has not been well

received, and the Residents Association are having considerable difficulty in

getting Wyldecrest to consult and communicate with the Association about matters

affecting residents. At one point, Mr Sunderland retracted our Qualifying

Residents Association status. This is an ongoing difficulty. I might comment that

1

Not published

the fact that Mr Best perceives my role in this organisation as leading to ‘a clash of

personalities’ smacks of victimisation.

The background to this specific incident was that Wyldecrest had applied to court

to be permitted to site homes on what the residents perceived to be an amenity

area in the park. It was the only one, and, prior to the Court case, we believed that

the use of this area was part of the common areas in the park which were to be

available to residents. The Council supported this approach and opposed

Wyldecrest’s application to place 3 units on the amenity area. When the matter

came to Court, permission was given to Wyldecrest to build two units, reserving a

small amenity area. I, along with the other residents and, indeed, the Council,

recollected that Mr Sunderland had specifically told the Court that there was no

reason why the trees could not stay and we fully expected this to be part of the

amenity area.

I came to be sitting under the trees because Wyldecrest had not made residents

aware of the intention to remove the trees on the green at all before the workmen

arrived on the Park at 7:30am to cut down the trees. I was alerted to their arrival

by one of the residents. As no representative of Wyldecrest was present and no

notice had been given, it seemed prudent to check the position with the Council and

to ensure that the work did not begin, I sat under the trees and made a number of

phone calls in an effort to contact the Council in order to resolve this matter.

The workmen appeared happy to wait and they did not proceed with the work of

cutting down the trees until

AFTER Mr Best had attacked me. This can be

confirmed by myself and a number of people who witnessed this event. Contrary to

Mr Best’s evidence, there was no question of my life being endangered at any time

prior to the arrival of Mr Best at the site.

I was on the phone to the non emergency police number when Mr Best drove onto

the park at speed and crashed his vehicle through the barrier between the visitors’

car park and the green and drove his van straight at me.

He did not approach me to introduce himself, discuss or attempt to resolve this

matter. Instead Mr Best jumped out of his van, which had stopped very close to the

bench that I was sitting on. He pulled me off the bench and manhandled me to the

ground. Others came forward to intervene and the park manager pulled Mr Best

off me and I managed to get away and I began to video the event.

It was Mr Best who brandished a chainsaw at onlookers whilst attempting to start

it, so that he could begin cutting down the trees. There was a brief moment where

I thought that he was coming at me with the chainsaw. (photo 1)

2

Mr Best was very aggressive and very angry. At one point he pointed and shouted

and me: “

Listen love, you have got me for the rest of your life” (photo 2).3 I

also have further video evidence of Mr Best coming at me once again when he tried

to get hold of my video camera. (photo 3 series of screen shots).

4 I would not let

go of the camera and he broke my tripod in the resulting tussle. I was subsequently

told that Mr Best subsequently accepted cautions in respect of the assault on me

and in respect of criminal damage, namely the breaking of my tripod. I have not

asked for or been compensated for this.

I believe that it was Mr Best’s behaviour that prompted a number of witnesses to

phone the police and report the assault on me. I don’t believe anything has been

“fabricated”, and I am sure that those who rang the police only stated the events

as they perceived them.

Mr Best stated to the Select committee hearing that he regretted coming onto the

park that day, but at no point has he made any attempt to apologise to me. Instead

a week after the attack, I received what I consider an intimidating letter from

Mr Sunderland of Wyldecrest Parks Management Limited and an invoice from

Wyldecrest, (company number and VAT Reg – Shelfside Holdings Limited) trying to

get me to pay £200 for the delay in cutting down the trees. (see attached)

5

My Solicitor dealt with this on my behalf and I was informed that the demand for

payment was retracted.

The delay and resulting incident, I believe could have been avoided if Mr Best

and/or Mr Sunderland had been transparent and kept us informed of their plans

regarding the development of the green.

Many of the people who witnessed the event that day have since commented that

they felt it was Mr Best’s intention to intimidate everyone on the park.

Mrs Toni Vyse Date : 10th April 2012.

2
Not