A couple have lost a seven-year court battle against their 'monstrous' millionaire neighbours over a 6ft-high fence and now face a £160,000 legal bill. Gary and Kerry Hambling, who bought Garden Cottage near Polstead, Suffolk, in 2015, had sought to force neighbours Garry and Jenny Wakerly to remove the fence, which they claim blocked access to their field and devalued their property.
The dispute began in 2016 when the Hamblings obtained planning permission to turn part of their field into a car park for vans and trucks. The Wakerlys, unhappy at the prospect of their driveway being used as a through-road, erected the fence along the edge of their drive, blocking steps the Hamblings had built from their front door to the track.
The Hamblings sued, arguing the fence was 'deliberately and unpleasantly antagonistic' and had wiped £100,000 off the value of their £600,000 home. However, High Court judge Sir Anthony Mann ruled that the Hamblings had no right to access their field from the cottage via the driveway, allowing the fence to remain. The couple must now pay at least £160,000 in court costs.
The legal row centred on the wording of a right of way granted in 2001, which stated the Wakerlys' driveway could be used 'for access to the field not to Garden Cottage'. The Hamblings had initially been allowed to cross the track while relations were friendly, but this permission was revoked after the planning dispute.
In 2021, Norwich County Court ruled in favour of the Wakerlys, a decision upheld on appeal. The judge described the case as a 'highly unfortunate situation where owners of two country properties have not been able to find a way in which they can co-exist without friction.'
