Legal Advice Needed! Land / Alley / Ad Medium Filum

G_M

https://www.merton.gov.uk/streets-parking-transport/streets-and-pavements/alley-gating

martindow

Dpw15 wrote: »

The land is listed as un-adopted and has two primary purposes.

1 - Allow exit from terraced houses in the event of a fire
2 - Allow access to rear of properties in general.

The council has said it's not a public right of way nor owned by them.

In my deeds it says that we're responsible for the maintenance of the passageway. However it does not say we own it or who does if at all. It's not even listed on the land registry.

I think it's a grey area and there's no legal title to say we can close it. However if nobody objects then I'm guessing we wouldn't have a problem. But as people love to complain I'm sure some would just for the hell of it.

I'm going to try and get confirmation from the council that they agree it should be closed due to H&S reasons. If I achieve this I think we will be fine.

All other neighbours are already in agreement and willing to split the cost.

If it's required as a fire escape, I would be wary of blocking it off with locked gates. It would need to have some means of opening from the inside without needing a key or code pad.

Dpw15

Thanks for all the replies everyone!.

I emailed my local councillor who said the following....

Dear

Councillor xxxxx has forwarded your e- mail to myself as we deal with matters relating to public rights of way.

As you have stated in your email this route is not recorded on the Highways Map or our Definitive Map of public rights of way.

Whilst I fully appreciate your intended actions due to the issues you have experienced, I am fairly sure that if you block the route off then we will probably receive a claim that the route should be recorded. There are provisions for claims to be made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The evidence required in such circumstances is usage by the public and or historical evidence.

It may therefore be preferable to look into other measures to try to prevent the anti-social behaviour before blocking the route off completely, as you could then end up with a footpath or a bridleway along this route.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss this further please contact me.

Regards



This obviously isn't helpful so am now thinking of taking your advice and erecting temporary security fences hired from HSS and see if we have any complaints regarding blocking off access. If nothing is heard then erect a wooden (instead of palisade) fence in which will act as a more fixed blockage.

I'll have a read through the document and let you know how I get on!.

Thanks

davidmcn

martindow wrote: »

If it's required as a fire escape, I would be wary of blocking it off with locked gates. It would need to have some means of opening from the inside without needing a key or code pad.

I doubt that it's needed as a fire escape just because there's currently an exit - plenty of back gardens don't have any way out other than through the house.

Dpw15

I have sent the following reply to the Councillor:

Hi XXXXX,

Following on from my last email;

Please see attached a guide to alley-gating from Merton Council. This seems to be a much more sensible approach to Alley-gating in which we’d hope to achieve with yourselves.

I have also drafted two plans in which we would like your comments on.

The plan would be to erect a temporary security fence in which a notice will be displayed informing the public of its closure with my contact details clearly shown. If he/she was to request access to the alleyway it would be granted providing they cause no damage on their route through and that they lock the gates behind them.

This security fence would be erected for a 1 month period, after which we would erect a wooden gate as a more permanent feature.

We would like to stress that if anyone was immediately affected by the gates being erected and used this as their main route of passage on a daily occasion we would still allow them access.

As the passage is not a public right of way or owned by the council we’d like to think if we did erect gates that you wouldn’t immediately tell us to take them down without receiving an uproar of complaints prior to this.
I will notify all people who live on XXXX road and the houses along XXXXX Road of the proposed works, and if someone should want access then as stated previously this shall be granted.

I have seem multiple alley closures around the XXXXXX area which have worked successfully, so I’d like to hope ours could too.


Kind Regards

It's not the local residents we have a problem allowing access it's the homeless and teenagers who cause damage.
I can't see anyone even wanting access as it's not a quicker route to anywhere so hopefully if I did go along the above route we wouldn't get any immediate rejections.