What do the watchers do ...?

It came as no surprise to learn that across the country there are at least 14,793 officers in local councils who can enter private property without requiring a warrant or police officer escort.
The disclosure came in a report called "Barging In," produced by an organisation called Big Brother Watch.
What did surprise us was that Boston Borough Council has 19 such officers.
Astonishingly, there are 1,043 laws permitting state inspectors to enter people’s homes and premises.
Within councils, the officers who can barge into your home unannounced include environmental health technicians, anti-social behaviour officers, and safety control inspectors.
Big Brother Watch says that many of the laws that permit power of entry are crucial for reasons of public safety and law enforcement. But it says that the steady rise in the number of council officers able to wield these powers points to a wider failing within local authorities.
"Councils are granting powers of entry to increasing numbers of their officers for administrative ease. Entering private property is a difficult, sensitive and
sometimes dangerous exercise. As the numbers rise, the potential for abuse and the lasting damage that a poorly executed operation can do to its victims become of greater concern.
Alex Deane, Director of Big Brother Watch, said: "Once, a man’s home was his castle. Today the Big Brother state wants to inspect, regulate and standardise the inside of our homes. Councils are dishing out powers of entry to officers within their council for their own ease, without giving due thought to the public's right to privacy and the potential for abuse. There needs to be a much closer eye kept on the number of officers granted the right to barge into private premises without a warrant."
The organisation says that whilst powers of entry are not in and of themselves a bad thing, there are still examples of meaningless regulations that are "are facile and needless."
They include checking to see if pot plants have plant pests or do not have a "plant passport, " or to check the energy ratings on refrigerators as well as surveying gardens to see if hedges are too high under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.
Big Brother Watch warns that it has become possible for a local authority officer to treat any number of situations as justifying the use of a power of entry; conversely, it has become increasingly difficult for a member of the public to know their own rights and avenues to redress when such a power is used.
We'd be interested to learn which departments the 19 Boston Borough Council officers with these powers work in, and what sort of pretexts have been used to gain access to taxpayers' homes.
Of all the obscure regulations which they can quote to gain access to your house or ours, the one we like best is the power to inspect a property to ensure illegal or unregulated hypnotism is not taking place (Hypnotism Act 1952).
We suspect something of that sort may well be going on in the borough.
Otherwise, why would members of the Bypass Independents slavishly do everything they're ordered by the leadership?
They must be in some sort of trance!

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