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An elderly woman, aged 81, has successfully concluded a prolonged three-year legal dispute with a local council after they erected a fence that blocked a long-used access point in her garden wall. The family had relied on this particular gap for decades as an entryway.
Helene Ball, who has lived on George Road in Matlock, Derbyshire since 1967, initiated legal proceedings following the council’s decision to fix a metal fence panel in place, sealing off the 98-centimeter gated opening between her garden and an adjacent council-owned car park in April 2023.
Following a hearing at a first-tier tribunal, the ruling came down in Ball’s favor after she demonstrated that the gate had been used continuously since the 1960s. The court established a legal right of way for her, ordering the council to cover £50,000 in legal costs while also mandating that her access must not be obstructed in the future.
Reflecting on the ordeal, Ball, a retired teacher, expressed her frustration: “I have taught nine, 10 and 11-year-olds all my life, but I never expected the council to act so babyish, they have been spitting their dummies out of the pram and it has been beyond childish.” She added, “They did everything they could to bully me. They tried to put us off but they messed with the wrong ones.” Ball also highlighted the personal toll the case took on her, stating, “At my age you don’t know how many years you have left, and this has given me three years-plus of stress but now we have proven they blocked our rights.
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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