That's terrible Midas, very upsetting for you and your sibs. In my experience the planning people are just woefully cack handed, not actively unhelpful. I had a permitted development notice in with the planners a few years ago and the planning officer turned up completely unannounced one day to discuss it with me, view the proposed site, access etc. I wasn't there of course. Anyway, we discussed it amicably later and it was all fine in the end. In local government, they just appear to have zero access to training on organisational skills, communication skills, problem solving, negotiation, etc. etc. Sad, but if you understand that, it takes the sting out of some of their crass behaviour.