Hi,
I have recently been granted planning permission to a plot of land
which used to be part of my house. It has taken me a long struggle;
loads of money and 3 years to finally get this granted.
The access to my building plot is currently an unadopted highway owned
by the local council and I need to cross a 1.5 m wide strip of land
also owned by the local authority. The road provides access to
'affordable housing'.
I have asked the local housing trust to grant me access to my plot but
they are objecting on the grounds that the local residents are
objecting.
No surprises there for it is they with whom I have been fighting to get

planning permission.
So although the planning process has been completely fair and
democratic I get to the position of access rights and get refused upon
the whim of a few jealous neighbours.
I have it in writing from the Planning Inspectorate, experts in this
area, that access to the plot would cause absolutely no disruption to
the local residents but this appears not to have been taken into
account.
Of course I am willing to pay for the access, via easement or a lump
sum but they haven't even offered me that option.
Have I a legal standpoint on this?
As the housing trust are the legal owners of the land then can they
just refuse me access point blank without any democratic process. After

all who owns the land - us council tax payers that's who!
Is this a human rights issue?
I have 2 and a half years to sort this out and am willing to fight -
can anyone out there help me.
Thanks
BB

wrote:
Hi,
I have recently been granted planning permission to a plot of land
which used to be part of my house. It has taken me a long struggle;
loads of money and 3 years to finally get this granted.
The access to my building plot is currently an unadopted highway owned
by the local council and I need to cross a 1.5 m wide strip of land
also owned by the local authority. The road provides access to
'affordable housing'.
I have asked the local housing trust to grant me access to my plot but
they are objecting on the grounds that the local residents are
objecting.
No surprises there for it is they with whom I have been fighting to get

planning permission.
So although the planning process has been completely fair and
democratic I get to the position of access rights and get refused upon
the whim of a few jealous neighbours.
I have it in writing from the Planning Inspectorate, experts in this
area, that access to the plot would cause absolutely no disruption to
the local residents but this appears not to have been taken into
account.
Of course I am willing to pay for the access, via easement or a lump
sum but they haven't even offered me that option.
Have I a legal standpoint on this?
As the housing trust are the legal owners of the land then can they
just refuse me access point blank without any democratic process. After

all who owns the land - us council tax payers that's who!
Is this a human rights issue?
I have 2 and a half years to sort this out and am willing to fight -
can anyone out there help me.

IANAL but I have heard of this many, many times.

You could take the difference between what the land is worth with
access, deduct its value without access and offer a sizeable chunk of
the difference to go to the benefit of the community. eg pay for the
unadopted highway to be brought up to standard so it could become adopted.

You could sell your property - the housing association might buy it at
just a little over its market value as they could then build..

You could knock down your existing building and put up a replacement,
say with an archway, that would give access to the plot.

You could plan to put something else on the plot that would only need
(pedestrian?) access but the mere thought of it being there would make
the locals beg you to put up a house instead..Say a drug rehabilitation
drop-in clubhouse..pheasant breeding house (have you *heard* the noise
they make?)... maggot breeding hut...


--
Sue

wrote in message
ups.com...

Is this a human rights issue?
I have 2 and a half years to sort this out and am willing to fight -
can anyone out there help me.
Thanks
BB



I dunno about the legal aspects in terms of access, but I do know that for
such 'ransom strips' for access you can expect to pay a fairly high
percentage of the development potential to gain a route to your plot.

The development potential will be how much you gain by having a decent
building plot, rather than a sterilised lump of useless ground.

g.

"Palindr?me" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Hi,
I have recently been granted planning permission to a plot of land
which used to be part of my house. It has taken me a long struggle;
loads of money and 3 years to finally get this granted.
The access to my building plot is currently an unadopted highway owned
by the local council and I need to cross a 1.5 m wide strip of land
also owned by the local authority. The road provides access to
'affordable housing'.
I have asked the local housing trust to grant me access to my plot but
they are objecting on the grounds that the local residents are
objecting.
No surprises there for it is they with whom I have been fighting to get

planning permission.
So although the planning process has been completely fair and
democratic I get to the position of access rights and get refused upon
the whim of a few jealous neighbours.
I have it in writing from the Planning Inspectorate, experts in this
area, that access to the plot would cause absolutely no disruption to
the local residents but this appears not to have been taken into
account.
Of course I am willing to pay for the access, via easement or a lump
sum but they haven't even offered me that option.
Have I a legal standpoint on this?
As the housing trust are the legal owners of the land then can they
just refuse me access point blank without any democratic process. After

all who owns the land - us council tax payers that's who!
Is this a human rights issue?
I have 2 and a half years to sort this out and am willing to fight -
can anyone out there help me.

IANAL but I have heard of this many, many times.

You could take the difference between what the land is worth with
access, deduct its value without access and offer a sizeable chunk of
the difference to go to the benefit of the community. eg pay for the
unadopted highway to be brought up to standard so it could become adopted.

You could sell your property - the housing association might buy it at
just a little over its market value as they could then build..

You could knock down your existing building and put up a replacement,
say with an archway, that would give access to the plot.

You could plan to put something else on the plot that would only need
(pedestrian?) access but the mere thought of it being there would make
the locals beg you to put up a house instead..Say a drug rehabilitation
drop-in clubhouse..pheasant breeding house (have you *heard* the noise
they make?)... maggot breeding hut...

Like your idea's if you really want to upset neighbours - although this may
not be applicable in your case. When our local busybody was getting upset
about another 'problem' we let it be known that we were moving abroad and
leasing the house to the local Social Services. You would not believe the
flak that raised..........

In leafy Surrey

PhilC

Owain wrote:
Palindr☻me wrote:

You could plan to put something else on the plot that would only need
(pedestrian?) access but the mere thought of it being there would make
the locals beg you to put up a house instead..Say a drug
rehabilitation drop-in clubhouse..pheasant breeding house (have you
*heard* the noise they make?)... maggot breeding hut...


There's very little useful development that would be allowed on a site
with only pedestrian access - matters such as refuse disposal and
firefighting usually mandate vehicular access, sometimes with specified
turning areas.

As, IIRC, another poster mentioned elsewhere, it isn't often necessary
to do much more than put the fear of something worse in the minds of
those you wish to influence. ISTR quite a lot of meadow has been sold
for rather more than it was worth - because of fear that gipsies might
be interested..

The OP has to ask himself what possible benefit there is to the owners
to move from the status quo. As it is, presumably, eventually, they will
buy the land. Or maybe even one day hope that it will be gifted to them,
or they can get it through adverse possession, if the OP doesn't keep an
eye on it..

Unless the OP can provide the owners with a significant benefit - they
may as well wait for the apple to fall.

--
Sue

wrote:

The access to my building plot is currently an unadopted highway owned
by the local council and I need to cross a 1.5 m wide strip of land
also owned by the local authority. The road provides access to
'affordable housing'.

I have asked the local housing trust to grant me access to my plot but
they are objecting on the grounds that the local residents are
objecting. No surprises there for it is they with whom I have been
fighting
to get planning permission.

So although the planning process has been completely fair and
democratic I get to the position of access rights and get refused upon
the whim of a few jealous neighbours.

I really can't see your basis for complaint. If they didn't want you to
build on their doorstep (never mind their reasons, they're entitled to have
a view), then why would you now expect them to help you do so? I can't
imagine any law which would allow you to build a driveway across their land
against their express wishes.

wrote:

The access to my building plot is currently an unadopted highway owned
by the local council and I need to cross a 1.5 m wide strip of land
also owned by the local authority. The road provides access to
'affordable housing'.
I have asked the local housing trust to grant me access to my plot but
they are objecting on the grounds that the local residents are
objecting.

If the local authority owns the road and strip of land, what has the
local housing trust got to do with it?

Ian

Ian wrote:
wrote:

The access to my building plot is currently an unadopted highway owned
by the local council and I need to cross a 1.5 m wide strip of land
also owned by the local authority. The road provides access to
'affordable housing'.
I have asked the local housing trust to grant me access to my plot but
they are objecting on the grounds that the local residents are
objecting.

If the local authority owns the road and strip of land, what has the
local housing trust got to do with it?

Ian

I'll try and clear a couple of things up.
The housing trust own the access road and the verge.
The said access road provides access to a row of houses and ends where
my potential drive is planned to be i.e my land starts at the end of
the road. The existing residents currently use the end of this road as
a parking area and according to the housing trust this is against their
wishes. There is an adjacent drive to my land which if the owner drove
(which unluckily for me doesn't) would mean those residents couldn't
park their cars where they do.
I hope this clarifys the matter.

wrote:

I'll try and clear a couple of things up.
The housing trust own the access road and the verge.
The said access road provides access to a row of houses and ends where
my potential drive is planned to be i.e my land starts at the end of
the road.

So a summary would be:

1) You want to develop your land.

2) Your neighbours were opposed to this.

3) You have nevertheless received planning permission.

4) To proceed you need access rights over their land.

5) They won't give you those rights.

It sounds to me as if they have you over a barrel here.

Ian

Ian wrote:

So a summary would be:

1) You want to develop your land.

2) Your neighbours were opposed to this.

3) You have nevertheless received planning permission.

4) To proceed you need access rights over their land.

The only correction I would make is that the land does not belong to the
same neighbours who were opposed. It belongs to the housing trust, who,
according to the OP might otherwise give him access, but are not because
the neighours are opposed.

5) They won't give you those rights.

It sounds to me as if they have you over a barrel here.