OAP blocked into own garden by chain link fence over bizarre neighbour row

A bemused OAP found his garden gate blocked by a chain-link fence in a bizarre row over a 90cm strip of land owned by his neighbour.

David Breeze, 80, believes the barrier was built following a dispute over him crossing a small strip of land to reach a public footpath when leaving his back garden.

Mr Breeze has regularly used the gate at the property in Reedham, Norfolk for the last 23 years.

He said he had made attempts to contact the landowner, Chris Mutten, to ensure he was not trespassing.

He uses the footpath, which runs east from Yareview Close to Cliff Close, to walk to the doctors surgery and post office as it cuts across a field connecting two halves of the village.

The row comes as angry villagers have objected to a controversial plan to build 27 new homes in the field owned by Mr Mutten, who is also a parish councillor.

In the latest twist over their dispute, Mr Breeze found his garden gate, which opens onto the footpath, had been blocked by a high chain-link fence two weeks ago.

The grandad-of-four, who lives with his wife Helen, admits he does have to trespass to get to the path - but that the piece of land is just 90cm wide.

He said: "I think the whole thing is petty - why would he do something like that?

"I offered him a letter and a licence for me to walk across the land to use the footpath and I never heard anything back.

"I accept I'm trespassing but I have offered a way to get round it legally.

"I see him around the village and he waves and says hello. You never know what you're going to get until you speak to him.

"People agree with me that the whole thing is petty and I even said to him: 'If I was you and heard what people had been saying about me, I would have cried'."

Mr Breeze said the dispute has been accelerated by the fact that the footpath runs along the edge of a large field owned by Mr Mutten which has been earmarked for 27 new homes.

The developers, Badger Building, want to re-route the footpath.

The former building surveyor said: "I had no objections to the footpath and I put a gate in my fence to get to it five years ago.

"My grandsons use it the most, to take their bikes out into the village.

"Two years ago, two metal posts went up and I never heard anything else.

"Then two weeks ago, someone put up a chain-link fence across it. I thought: 'This is silly'.

"While I was away on holiday, someone came along and snipped the zip-ties and pushed it over - my neighbours didn't see who it was either.

"I spoke to him and he said he's not going to put it back so I see it as a surrender.

"The housing development will likely put a road through the middle of the estate and the footpath will become redundant which is a shame."

Mr Breeze added that he would miss the comments made about the fence by people walking past and that he was glad his hedgehogs could still roam underneath the gap.

He joked: "I have really enjoyed all the comments made when people walking past, it was a strange thing to see.