Millionaire’s illegal ‘shanty town’ which houses 120 migrants
‘People need real homes, not sheds’
A WEALTHY builder infuriated neighbours by constructing an illegal shanty town for scores of migrant workers in the back garden of his mock-Tudor mansion.
The warren of sheds and portable buildings near multi-million-pound homes is said to house 120 men, women and children, locals claim.
The landowner, building firm boss Gerry Fitzgerald, 60, lives in a £2million, five-bed house just yards from the site in the affluent area of Mill Hill, north London, not far from the luxury homes of Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Mr Fitzgerald is believed to earn a huge rent from the Eastern European workers living there on short-term tenancies – a figure said to be as high as £40,000 a month.
Barnet Council planning inspectors investigated after neighbours complained in January 2016, and Mr Fitzgerald was ordered to dismantle the ‘sub-standard accommodation’ for around 50 people.
Although it was built on the Green Belt without permission, Mr Fitzgerald began a High Court battle to challenge the order to tear down what has been described as the ‘Third World slum’ in his back garden.
Aerial images reveal the site contains a courtyard and a maze of rooms linked together by narrow corridors. Yesterday, the strip of land was still a hive of activity, with many vehicles coming and going, and children playing in the yard. It is unclear whether any of the cabins have been torn down.
A neighbour said: ‘You can’t go building mini villages for migrant workers. People need real homes, not sheds in gardens.’
Another added: ‘It’s like a shanty town. There must be 120 people there. If the wood caught fire it would all go up. They collect people, all Romanian, from the airport all the time. Men work in the day then sleep in beds used by the men working nightshifts.
‘I got told there’s at least 120 if not 150 in there and he makes £40,000 a month.’
Witnesses said that in one sixhour period, they had seen a girl heading to school and at least ten residents leave on foot. A bonfire burned all day.
They said Mr Fitzgerald paid a Romanian couple to run the operation, and that they collect new tenants from the airport.
Mr Fitzgerald was ordered to raze most of buildings by the end of the year after losing a High Court appeal against the council’s ruling.
But he rubbished the estimates of how many people lived on the land, and the money he earned in rent, telling The Sun: ‘If there were 120 there I’d be living in the Bahamas. Everyone staying there is legal. They pay council tax and have National Insurance.’
Richard Cornelius, leader of Barnet Council, said: ‘ We take any breaches of planning regulations with the utmost seriousness.
‘In this case, the council took a proactive approach with its investigation and has taken the necessary legal action to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.’
A council spokesman said: ‘ In January 2016, the council received a complaint in regards to a large number of dwellings being built on Green Belt land.
‘After inspecting the property in question, council officers estimated the development housed about 50 tenants in wooden buildings, cabins and static caravans.’
Mr Fitzgerald could not be reached for comment yesterday.