New build estate drama as row breaks out over wall just two bricks high

SWNS

A row has broken out between developers of a new build estate and a local businessman over the ownership of a wall - 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 says the two-brick high wall next to a development of 70 homes in Hempsted, Gloucester is his.  Mr White says the wall is on land he inherited from his father when he passed away in 1997.  He says the plot of land was valued at £10,000 in 2017.   He 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.

Transcript

00:00I've always known that I was left the Dwarf Wall, sadly my father died in 1997 and obviously

00:08you get left different things from your parents legacy and for me I was left this Dwarf Wall,

00:15which is really peculiar, but he always said to me keep an eye on it, so I have kept an eye on it

00:20and about a month ago I came round just to have a look and noticed that all this development was

00:26going on and then got onto the internet to actually find out what was going on exactly and then

00:33discovered all the planning documents for Lion Court homes where they're building 70 houses

00:39that they needed this as an emergency access because apparently it says in the planning that

00:44the lower part of the site is prone to flooding and therefore the main access could be inaccessible

00:53so in that case they need this as an emergency exit. I contacted them to obviously let them know

00:59that I own this Dwarf Wall and this small piece of land and they did say in writing in their reply that

01:06they did recognise that I own the Dwarf Wall but then subsequently they've said that it's adopted by

01:13highways and then after that they've said that they actually own the Dwarf Wall which is clearly not the

01:18case because it's all correctly registered with the land registry it's always been correctly registered

01:24and I can't believe I'm not against the housing development I think it's great the houses look

01:28great that's not the point but we're just looking for things to be done properly here I can't believe

01:33we've got to this point where they need my the access across my Dwarf Wall and nobody had contacted me

01:39so either they were planning to just get on with it that's what they're saying they're going to do they're

01:43just ignoring my rights they're planning to basically bulldoze through and actually put their access in

01:50and just completely ignore my rights which is not acceptable

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