PREVIEW

WORDS BYLINE: Elli Hodgson
CCTV footage has been unearthed of the moment a digger tore apart property belonging to an off-grid grandad and a boat club.
The heavy machinery was deployed to destroy the home of Bob Thwaites as well as boats and jetties belonging to Broadness Cruising Club on the Swanscombe Peninsula, in Kent.
A camera recovered from the wreckage has revealed the scale of destruction footage showing the machinery ploughing through the structures on the creek with force.
The recording, taken just after 12.15pm on Wednesday (May 6), shows a shed being torn apart before a drum of liquid is picked up by the grapple and moved to a growing pile of debris.
Shortly later, the digger can be seen charging towards another structure, this time fixed with a CCTV camera, before displacing it to the ground.
The grumble of the machinery, alongside the bashing and clanging of broken property, is audible in the footage.
Nicholas Katz, CEO of Land Logical, said earlier this week the clearance was “nothing new or unexpected” and “should in fact have happened months ago”.
After the sudden eviction of 78-year-old Bob, and cruising club members, recovery efforts were underway yesterday as dozens sifted through the wreckage for salvageable possessions.
In response, Laura Edie, Dartford councillor for Newtown ward, has started a fundraiser for Bob to help him replace essential belongings lost during the clearance. Click here to help.
She told KentOnline she was “shocked” by what had happened and said Bob was “cherished by so many in our community for his kindness and generosity”.
The Green party representative added: “The sudden destruction of his home and the loss of his treasured possessions, reportedly without adequate warning, is truly heartbreaking and has caused shock and anger locally.”
In less than 24 hours, £500 has been raised of a £4,000 target for the grandad-to-four.
The 78-year-old had lived off the bank of the Swanscombe Peninsula without any problems since 1991.
While he originally moved there out of necessity after his marriage broke down, over the decades, the creek became his home and a place he loves and cares about.
That was until, July 21 this year, when the new landowner, Land Logical, told Broadness Cruising Club it was removing its land access and, in essence, Bob’s home too.
Initially, a gate was erected to prevent any vehicles from entering the creek and a 6ft fence was erected to keep the club out, although Bob was given a key.
On the day of the bulldozing, Bob had only gone out to do his shopping, but by the time he arrived back, his house was gone.
The club had retained its existence on the moorings and saltings of the creek despite the ongoing row over land access.
Mr Katz, who chairs Land Logical, previously said that a health and safety report he commissioned suggested the site was in a “very poor state of repair” and this was the reason for denying access and the site clean-up.
In his letter, the cruising club was accused of “wilfully abusing” the original access agreement by fly-tipping, starting fires and constructing unsafe platforms and outbuildings.
As a result, the landowner deemed the area “dangerous to safety” and he said members would need to make an appointment to collect their boats and possessions.
The club strongly refutes any claims of fly-tipping and says it helps to combat pollution with specific litter-picking days to clear washed-up rubbish.
But Mr Katz maintains the club were fully aware of the plans to destroy any property left on site after a deadline of September 30, and that the clearance of the possessions on the land was well communicated.
“This isn’t a surprise,” he said. “In any event, he [Bob] was squatting, there was no occupational right there or for any form of residency on that land.
“We have done it the right way.”
In addition, he confirmed Land Logical will seek to recover costs for the removal of items on the peninsula to members of the cruising club.
Looking ahead, Mr Katz said he plans to work directly with Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, who are tasked with delivering tens of thousands of homes and community facilities at the adjacent garden city, for a “social use” over the whole of the peninsula.
Large parcels were once earmarked for a now scrapped theme park project dubbed the “Dartford Disneyland”.
Mr Katz added: “In the long run, everyone will be very pleased with the outcome for what we have in mind for the peninsula.”