'Spiteful' council fences off residents' garden gates in 'row over car park sale'

A council fenced off the garden gates of two family homes in a 'row over the sale of a car park'. The erection of the 3ft wide fences, blocking off entrance to the rear of the homes, has been branded 'spiteful' and 'petty'.

Derbyshire County Council closed its car park in Cavendish Road, Matlock, and blocked the entrance with barriers on April 21, with residents who had been allowed to use the site for decades given just a couple of days' notice, DerbyshireLive reports.

After this impromptu closure, the council went one step further and, early in the morning on April 26, installed two fence panels across the rear garden gates of two properties in George Road, which lead onto the car park, and cemented them into the ground. This was carried out without any notice and consultation and means the residents cannot exit from the rear of their own properties.

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The county council claims there are no legal rights of way across its land. Both households suspect the move was done spitefully due to residents in the area forming a community group, the Matlock Community Land Trust, in a bid to buy the car park.

The county council has plans to sell the site to pave the way for 30 homes, while the community group is planning eight homes, allotments, a community orchard and car parking. A 77-year-old woman who has lived in one of the properties since 1966 told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the move to fence over her garden gate was unfair and unnecessary.

She says there has been an exit from the rear of her house ever since she moved in and before the site was turned into a car park. The woman, who did not wish to be identified, said she would now have to