£790,000 payout for race case builder

A builder accepted £790,000 [yesterday] in an out-of-court settlement after he was found to have been racially discriminated against by council officials during a planning dispute.

Kelly Davis, a father of two, of Bath, won his civil action against the now defunct Wansdyke District Council last year when a judge at Bristol County Court ruled that planning officers had "conducted themselves in a consistently unhelpful and obstructive fashion" in refusing to grant him planning permission for work on his home between 1989 and 1991.

Judge David Ticehurst said at the time: "This can only be explained by the existence of a policy, regime or practice to treat him - the only black builder in Wansdyke - unfavourably."

Wansdyke council was abolished in 1996, leaving its replacement, Bath and North East Somerset Council, to act as the defendant in the case.

"The Times" 19 November 2001