What’s happening in Labour-run Lewisham today has left me thinking. I once believed in the ideals of the Labour party: justice, fairness, and accountability – but, not now. These are just the empty sloganeering of an elite few in Lewisham's town hall and Parliament.
In truth, Lewisham is not a borough of sanctuary but a place for Pocaneering. Ordinary residents—entrepreneurs, good Samaritans, and hardworking immigrants—are being treated not as part of the community, but as financial targets. All in the name of planning enforcement. All under the guise of legality. And all tied to the toxic incentives of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
The sand and cement storefront scandal – Criminalised
Let’s begin with local DIY shop owner Kevin Bottomley, reported here under KJ Building Supplies and our successful campaign Save KJs. He was selling small quantities of sand and cement from his shop's driveway – the kind of side hustle long part of Lewisham life, helping neighbours avoid a trip to large retailers. The council prosecuted Kevin under planning law.
Following our findings on this case, the POCA incentive was dropped. But they still left Kevin, in the twilight of his years, with a criminal record. What for? Drugs, prostitution, slavery? No. For selling building materials from the side of his shop without a change of use approval. Something he had been doing for years.
The council prosecution was expensive. Readers will be keen to note that they lost over £30,000 in taxpayer funds in bringing the trial. Much of the cost appears due to their employment of expensive outside law firms (more on which later) and the actions of enforcement officers whose approach some might consider overzealous. However, Kevin wasn’t an immigrant. Neither did he have his passport seized.
The foster carers - Criminalised
Then there’s the couple who took in troubled teenagers—young people that Lewisham itself had failed to care for. Their thank-you from the council? Prosecution—because their loft had one skylight too many. One extra pane of glass in a conservation area was enough for Lewisham to drag them through the courts. They were given criminal convictions for a single skylight too many. There was no POCA incentive in this case. Neither was an immigrant. Neither did they have their passports seized.
However, these cases do serve as a stark reminder that planning enforcement notices should not be ignored, because they may become the gateway to potential abuses of a power in search of profit.
Lewisham puts Meze through the mangle
We’ve heard what happened to the DIY merchant and the foster carers. Now, consider what is happening to Turkish restaurateurs, the “Meze Mangal” Goks.
Most shockingly, I present the case of Ahmet and Sahin Gok to show a stark disparity in the treatment of British citizens who are also immigrants. Both born in Turkey, owners of the beloved, award-winning restaurant Meze Mangal, which lies at 245 Lewisham Way. Known across London for its hospitality and food, the restaurant was a local landmark and community hub. Until the council saw it as something else.
Following a complaint about cooking odours and noise, the Gok brothers installed a support platform for a ventilation system. A small planning matter, handled informally in many boroughs. However, in Lewisham, it became an opportunity of a different kind. Known as "a POCA".The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) was introduced by the Labour Government. It gives authorities powers to investigate, seize, and confiscate assets believed to be the proceeds of criminal conduct. Its aim is to prevent criminals from benefiting from their crimes. Critics argue, myself included, it can be applied disproportionately, especially when near-bankrupt local authorities directly benefit financially from confiscation orders. And especially when bounty may be found in criminalising those most vulnerable.
It's worth noting that Lewisham Council's Planning Enforcement Manager, a Future London Leaders' candidate, states that after a restructuring of the team and a string of successful prosecutions, they are now undertaking their first POCA case. The manager wrote Lewisham's Planning Enforcement Policy. This suggests a new, aggressive strategic direction for the planning enforcement team. Is the Gok case Lewisham's inaugural POCA venture?
If so, here's what happened to the Goks:
Their nightmare began with a complaint about their kitchen extraction system. They spent considerably to adjust it. The council then invited a retrospective planning application, but turned it down. The Goks appealed, and lost.
What followed was confusing. Lewisham Council issued three enforcement notices, then withdrew the prosecution in January 2020. The Goks believed the ordeal was over. But it wasn't.
COVID struck. Months later, Lewisham's enforcement team re-engaged, revealing the prosecution was still active. Weeks later, their mother died, adding to their grief.
Then, in March 2023, whilst caring for their ill father, a guilty plea was entered in court in their absence. This appears to have given the council a windfall.
Having acquired criminal convictions, Lewisham shunted the case up to Woolwich Crown Court. It now seeks £544,388 in "profits" from the hard-working Gok brothers, for what it claims was a criminal enterprise – simply for an unapproved extractor. (Councils increasingly use the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) for financial gain in planning breaches, with as much as 37.5% going directly to the council.)
Sadly, their father then died. At their trial, 10 months later, the prosecution was sceptical about their reasons for stalling, even claiming they were being evasive or fabricating their reasons. They then took the drastic step of seizing their British passports, treating them as flight risks. This prevented them from dealing with family matters, including funerals, and from living their lives as all British citizens should.
If that wasn't enough, Lewisham Council also froze their business bank account, strangling their livelihood and resulting in the bank being unable to process payments, forcing them to return money to diners.
Whilst Lewisham's planning enforcement manager boasts about leadership, the Goks are now in POCA purgatory. Their business is strangled. Their family endures unimaginable stress. All caused by Lewisham Council's punitive, disproportionate, and overzealous force, over an extractor fan.
Fortunately, with the aid of a defence barrister, Quentin Hunt, their passports have just been returned... for one month. Following which they must return them to Lewisham Police Station.
When planning law becomes a revenue stream for cash-strapped councils
Sometimes prosecution may not be about protecting the public or serving its interest. It may also be about profiting from prosecution. Under POCA, councils receive a slice of the recovered funds - up to 37.5%. A further 12.5% goes to the courts, and the remainder to Keir Starmer's government.
Cash-strapped Lewisham is treating its own residents as financial opportunities. When the law is bent to serve the budget, not the people, it’s not enforcement—it’s extortion in red tape.
Labour in name, authoritarian and Orwellian in practice
It beggars belief that this is happening under a Labour administration. Or does it?
Where is the local accountability?
Where are the ward meetings that once allowed residents to raise concerns about such things?
Why are we criminalising the very people who support this borough—economically, socially, and morally?
Silence at the top
I have raised these concerns—in writing—with both Mayor Brenda Dacres and MP Vicky Foxcroft. However, whilst the wheels of justice may move slowly, the silence surrounding this potential injustice is damning.
To be fair, the local ward member Councillor Stephen Penfold has now managed to obtain an audience with Mayor Dacres soon to dicuss this, and he is to be joined by MP Vicky Foxcroft. They should find that the roots of this problem trace back to a previous Lewisham mayor, Damien Egan. The prosecution of the Goks began during his mayoralty. He subsequently left his mayoral post to become an MP in Bristol North East, leaving complex cases behind in Lewisham.
What TheBigRetort can reveal is... that Meze Mangal was a venue frequented by many, including, ironically, members of Lewisham Council themselves, who held evenings out, Christmas parties, and even mounted campaigns on behalf of Labour there. Though it is soon to shut its doors to all.
The perversity of this situation is stark. If the POCA judgement favours the very council that has benefited from Meze Mangal over the years, including its former Mayor Damien Egan, it would be a profound blow to democracy and to the trust of many of Lewisham's immigrants who sought refuge in what was once championed as a 'Borough of Sanctuary'. This outcome would contradict the very spirit of such a designation.
A Party that fails to listen will fail the People
This isn’t about a few planning enforcement cases. It’s about an unsafe culture. One where:
Dissent is ignored.
Participation is shut down.
And residents are prosecuted to balance the books.
The seizure of passports from immigrant British citizens is appalling, as is the criminalisation of upstanding citizens.
If you are a Labour member, Lewisham resident, customer, or councillor reading this, I urge you to ask: Is this what we stand for?
Because if this continues, it won’t be the residents who need to answer for POCA—it’ll be the party that continues to let a national scandal happen of Post Office scandal-type proportions. Mark my words, this will be a national trend, one with dire consequences for truth and justice, and for all.
THE BIG RETORT
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