A Gloucester man is spending £150 a day on a security guard to protect a small brick wall he inherited from his father almost 30 years ago.
Roger White, 59, is fighting against developers Lincourt Homes, who say they need to demolish the two-brick high wall to create an emergency access route in line with their planning permission to build new homes.
But Roger says the two-brick high wall next to a development of 70 homes in Hempsted, Gloucester, is his, and on land he was left by his dad in 1997.
He says the plot of land was valued at £10,000 in 2017, and feels that he’s being ‘bullied’ by developers, who he says didn’t approach him to buy it before they began building work.
Lincourt Homes later sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mr White saying that he had ‘no entitlement to a ransom’ over the wall.
They’ve since put up a fence and gate at the site and insist that it has already installed the required emergency access, without needing any third-party land.
Mr White is so concerned that the developer is just going to demolish the wall, he has hired a security guard to protect it.
He added that he has proof that the wall next to a development is his, and that was not adopted by Highways.
Mr White, who works in IT, said: ‘Lioncourt Homes are just doing what they want. I am paying £150 a day to have a security guard protecting the wall.
‘I am concerned they are just going to demolish the wall, even though it is my wall and ignore all my rights. This is my dad’s – it is a legacy that my dad has left. It upsets me that Lioncourt Homes just ignore the fact that it’s my wall.’
Lioncourt apparently has documents from 1964, which it says show it owns the wall. But Mr White says he has docs from 1971 which he says prove the wall belongs to him – including his Land Registry ownership proof.
He said: ‘I want to do some repairs to the wall, so that’s why there’s construction fencing up. I’ve got a builder who’s doing repairs for the wall.
‘It hasn’t been repaired for 52 years since my dad built it in 1974, and to protect my interests, I’ve got a security company to protect it all. Other people are left homes, and sadly, when your parents die, you inherit things, and if you’re very lucky, it’s a house, but not always.
‘In my case, my dad left me this dwarf wall. It’s most unusual, but that’s what he left me.’
He added: ‘I don’t understand how we can get to the point of 70 houses being built and nobody has actually looked into this before.’
He added that Lioncourt Homes is attempting to get retrospective discharge of the planning conditions.
Mr White’s father, Ernie, was a local estate agent in Gloucester, and he purchased a number of ‘ransom strips’ as potential investments.
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said then: ‘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.’
A spokesperson for Lioncourt Homes said: ‘Works required to implement our planning permission are in land wholly owned by Lioncourt Homes, or is in adopted highway land, no third-party land is required. The emergency access has now been installed.’
Source – Metro