Feel for him but he should have gotten it all in writing I have been in battles with Harrogate Borough Council over my windows for about 18 months (beat them to death with the help of my dad) and concerning my basement won on all counts though mainly because we took them on a tour of every property that is like ours with the windows and light wells we wanted till they were so tired they would have signed for us to paint the whole building pink and blue if we had wanted. ( what we wanted to do was dig a light well to let more light into the basement, so they said to put a grill over it so people didn't fall in and that it had to be thick enough to hold a persons weight (ie so thick no light would get through) we said can we just put a high railing round so people don't fall in. (Does not compute does not compute) looks really good now. They always act like we are trying to disfigure our bulding and in what univerce would that be something that would be in my interest?