A row has broken out between developers of a newly built estate and a local businessman over the ownership of a wall which measures just two bricks high.
Lioncourt Homes says it needs to demolish the ‘dwarf wall’ to create an emergency access route in line with their planning permission.
But Roger White, who works in IT, says the two-brick high wall next to a development of 70 homes in Hempsted, Gloucester is his, on land he inherited after his father passed away in 1997.
He says the plot of land was valued at £10,000 in 2017 and feels like he is being ‘bullied’ by the developers – who he says did not approach him to purchase it before building work began.
They sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mr White saying that he had ‘no entitlement to a ransom’ over the wall.
Mr White, 58, said: ‘My father always said to me ‘keep an eye on it’ and occasionally I would check on it and see that nothing had changed for years. About a month ago I noticed there was a development going on and there was a concrete fence and it was all opened up.
‘I went online and I found the actual planning permission itself which stated that because of potential flooding in the lane entrance, planning authorities required that there would be an emergency access put in for emergency vehicles.
‘That emergency access was going to be across my land and obviously across my dwarf wall. I contacted Lioncourt Homes and said ‘You don’t realise I own this’ and they came back and confirmed in writing that it was my dwarf wall.
‘But they are saying that either the dwarf wall is adopted highway or it is their dwarf wall – which clearly isn’t.’
Lioncourt apparently has documents from 1964 which it says shows it owns the wall, the BBC reports.
But Mr White says he has documents from 1971 which he says prove the wall belongs to him.
Responding to the cease and desist letter, Mr White’s solicitors said it is for Lioncourt Homes to prove the wall is within its property and if it forms part of the public road.
Mr White said: ‘The dwarf wall is in my name and correctly registered in the land registry – it is the most peculiar situation. I don’t understand how we can get to the point of 70 houses being built and nobody has actually looked into this before.
‘Lioncourt Homes have said to me in writing that they intend to get on with the work to put the entrance in a completely ignore my rights.’
Mr White said he is not against the development but added that the developers ‘need to make sure everything is done properly.’
But he feels they just want to ‘bulldoze’ the wall and ‘get on with the work’, adding: ‘It certainly starts to feel like it is the big developer bullying a small businessman because they just seem to be adamant.
‘They just want to get on with it, bulldoze my wall and ignore my rights. If they need to demolish the wall they need to buy the wall. I don’t know what happens if they just bulldoze the walls. I have a solicitor now who is helping me with this.’
Mr White’s father Ernie was a local estate agent in Gloucester, and he purchased a number of ‘ransom strips’ as potential investments. Mr White said his dad left him the dwarf wall ‘for a reason’.
A spokesperson at Lioncourt Homes said: ‘Works required to implement our planning permission is in land wholly owned by Lioncourt Homes or is in adopted highway land, no third-party land is required.’
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said: ‘We consider that the legal boundary of Lioncourt’s land directly adjoins the public road of Honeythorn Close.
‘Legal boundaries have no physical width (regardless of the physical boundary’s appearance) and the highway status takes precedence over whoever owns the ground beneath it.
‘Therefore, the council considers that the works to create the emergency vehicle access as required by planning can be lawfully implemented.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.