A Dubbo resident is calling on council to offer compensation over a long-standing property dispute that he says has been left to fester due to inaction.
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Michael Wykes, who's lived in one of Dubbo's light industrial areas for 45 years, claims his home has been irreparably damaged and council has refused to help.
"I've been screaming out to the council for nine years, and nothing's come of it," Mr Wykes said.
Mr Wykes says the bulk of the problems started when council approved several alterations to a neighbouring property and stormwater began leaking through a retaining wall.
"The water's been coming through the whole time, stormwater's been coming through our place because they've built the ground up," Mr Wykes said.
"It's undermined the house, we've had engineers and surveyors in to take a look. We had to pay out $8000 to $10,000 in fees to show that the water was the problem."
Mr Wykes says council hasn't enforced the rules as strongly as they need to prevent issues like this from arising.
"Council okayed him to do a footpath out the front, they passed and approved it, and took no measures to stop the stormwater from flowing into our backyard," Mr Wykes said.
However, correspondence from council in response to Mr Wykes' complaints dated to May 30 of this year refers to the footpath landscaping as "undertaken without council approval".
Council representatives refused to comment on the matter overall, noting that the parties in dispute were currently involved in court proceedings.
"Dubbo Regional Council has been advised this neighbourhood dispute between two separate parties is due to be heard in court," a council spokesperson said.
"It is not appropriate for council to comment on this matter between two individual parties."
The owner of the adjacent property that Mr Wykes complained about also refused to comment on the matter.
Mr Wykes also expressed concerns about what he believed to be asbestos which hadn't been adequately attended to by council.
"Sheep broke the fibro off around the bottom of the house, and exposed a bunch of asbestos, I reported it to council over 12 months ago, and nothing's been done," Mr Wykes said.
"It's a threat to our health, my wife's got asthma, the kids can't come over anymore with our grandkids, because it's just not suitable anymore."
"I've put it to the council, and nothing's been done."
"It's making it very difficult for us here. There's something drastically wrong. The council has to wake up to themselves, I reckon."
"We don't need this trouble."
