"Unadopted" rear alley way?

KayTM

It's easier for the nay-sayers to suggest it can't be done. Just a bit of positive thinking, vision, and drive could make it better for all.

But, I accept, many people won't want to know.

Pearls before swine.

jackyann

I still live near the house where I grew up, all of the terraces then had a back alley (easy access to the pump, indoor plumbing arrived about the time I did))
Over the years, home owners have quietly annexed their bit of the alley into their own garden!
Some years ago, as car ownership increased (and so did the cost of lock-ups) some residents suggested using the back alley for car access. However, they were shouted down by those who had bought their houses in good faith with the extra bit of garden. I saw the map, and the line has been drawn in a very thick pen!
Those houses are now worth less because of the parking problems (even households with parking space of their own have to negotiate a narrow street with cars parked on the pavement)
I see how it has arisen, but more forethought, giving up a small piece of land, could have meant much more desirable houses (as described by Dafty)

Norman_Castle

Behind where I live there is a private right of way which is for access to garages. Currently 50% overgrown. One resident recently cleared part of it for building access. Any residents wanting to use it have cleared it themselves. There is always little interest from residents who don't want or need to use it. The fact that yours is overgrown suggests there is little interest in it.
Good luck getting help clearing it. Will you continue to clear it if you have no need to use it?.

pollyanna24

AdrianC wrote: »

I doubt you could restrict access to residents only.

And there's no need to be so formal as a committee - just get in there and do it!

My parents have an alleyway like this at the back of their house and the residents campaigned and a big gate was put up at the end and everyone in the road given keys.

Doesn't really work as most of the houses are rented room by room, so the gate is left often half the time.

It's big enough to get cars down, but is completely overgrown.

My dad gets all het up about it and checks the gate every night, but nobody understands why he is so persistent with this. To stop people getting in his garden, I don't know, we just let him get on with it.

moneyistooshorttomention

The other angle to whether to keep a back alley as a back alley - assuming it would be wide enough to get cars down anyway - is that some people wouldn't want cars driving along the back of their house, as well as the front of their house. Add those who would be "inconsistent" enough not to want that - even though they had a car themselves....and...

Now feeling rather thankful that the back alley I had for my last house wasn't wide enough to do anything other than walk down anyway. Though back alleys can be problematic anyway - as the neighbour back behind my house had to be told he couldn't just "annex" the bit of back alley immediately behind his back wall as part of his garden - and then go and put his dustbins on my side and walk down there too (if he could manage it) and that we would be keeping the whole width of the alley as alley. In my case - I needed the access for things that couldn't be brought in through the front door for some reason. In try-on neighbours case - he was always using the back alley (as he treated his back door as a front door iyswim and used to regularly access his house that way).

Davesnave

The people whom I mentioned earlier, who didn't want a right of way on foot behind their properties, were the only ones who didn't have one. They'd self-selected houses with landlocked gardens.

At first I found this hard to believe, because I was willing to grant them one, at a reasonable price, of course, , but no, they really didn't want it. They bought some extra garden instead, though.

So the two houses sit there, now worth around £330k - £340k each, yet the rubbish, the bikes and everything else has to go in and out via the front door.

Now't so queer as folk.

KayTM

DaftyDuck at post #16 said:

Buy it & let us know!

Here's the feedback.

We did buy it (and moved in October). After all, that issue wasn't a deal-breaker. It's just that we were full of enthusiasm for "potential improvements". However, we decided not to do anything major until we'd lived in the house for a while and got a better feel for it - both in terms of the house/garden itself and what the neighbours were like.

As it's turned out, the neighbours are very friendly, helpful and considerate, so we think it's a good community to be in. Happy!

It quickly became obvious to me that the rear access idea was a non-starter. There's no way you could make it big enough to get a car down the lane unless several owners demolished permanent structures which they've built right at the very end of their gardens.

We bought a resident's parking permit (can't remember how much but it was inexpensive) and have never had any problems getting a space outside, or very close to, our house

Also, on the cold, dark, winter nights, I liked the added security of there not being any rear access. Nothing's impossible, of course, but it would take a very determined burglar to gain rear access.

All in all, I'd say that the occasional hassle of traipsing garden stuff in the front door and through the house is better than having a back gate and easy access.

If someone asked me now to join in a communal effort to clear the alley, I'd go with the flow but would be ambivalent about it.

Thanks. It was interesting to discuss it. Maybe next time we'll not buy a mid-terrace, but that's what this is and we accept it for what it is.

EmmyLou30

Thanks for getting back on the forum with an update! Much appreciated.