A BUSINESSMAN is locked in a row with the developers of a new housing estate over a tiny wall that is just two bricks high.
Roger White is adamant that the “dwarf wall” on the of the estate belongs to him and he refuses to let Lioncourt Homes
The 58-year-old says the mini wall in Hempsted, Gloucester, sits on land he inherited from his father in 1997, but the developer said the land it is working on is “wholly owned by Lioncourt Homes or is in adopted highway land”.
But the housing developer insists they need to to create an emergency access route, required in their planning permission.
IT worker Roger complained that they didn't approach him to buy the land before starting work.
He claims the land was valued at £10,000 in 2017.
In turn, Lioncourt Homes sent a cease-and-desist letter to the local businessman in the
They said he has “no entitlement to a ransom” over the tiny wall.
Roger told GloucestershireLivehe “keeps an eye” on the land and around a month ago he noticed the going on, so looked up the planning permission online.
He noticed it required an emergency access route because of potential flooding, and said it was “going to be across my land and obviously across my dwarf wall”.
He said: “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.”
The BBC reported that Lioncourt claims to have documents from 1964 proving its ownership of the wall.
Roger says he has paperwork from 1971 which shows the wall belongs to him.
The IT worker said he is not against the development of 70 homes being built.
But he said the company needs to make sure “everything is done properly”.
He feels as if they want to “bulldoze” the wall and “get on with the work”.
“It certainly starts to feel like it is the big developer bullying a small businessman because they just seem to be adamant.”
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.”
