An 81-year-old retired teacher has won a costly three-year legal battle against Derbyshire County Council after being fenced into her own back garden. Helene Ball, who has lived at her home in Matlock since 1967, discovered on 26 April 2023 that the council had cemented a metal fence panel across the 98cm gap in her rear garden wall.
Prescriptive rights established
Over the following three years, Mrs Ball was involved in a legal dispute costing around £50,000 against the authority. A judge in the first tier tribunal court ultimately ruled in her favour, finding that she and her family had used the route out of the back garden, through a gate in her wall, across the neighbouring county council car park for more than 40 years without opposition. As a result, they had established prescriptive rights, with use stretching back 59 years in total.
These rights will now be registered on the deed for the land. The council has also been ordered by the courts to meet Mrs Ball's costs and to ensure her pedestrian and vehicular access is not obstructed again, as it had been throughout the dispute.
Council's conduct criticised
The fence panel across her rear garden gate was removed within a year, but vehicular access remained blocked throughout the entire period. The Cavendish Road car park itself has been listed for sale as a small housing development. The county council declined to comment on or disclose the cost of the lengthy legal challenge.
Upon visiting the location, county council staff were positioning substantial concrete blocks across the car park from the entrance, creating a pathway for Mrs Ball's vehicle to access her back garden from Cavendish Road. The court judgment from Judge Robert Brown described the council's legal representation as "surprisingly combative" considering its "limited evidence" and "unsubstantiated assertions". Judge Brown deemed portions of the council's legal representation "totally irrelevant", "most unhelpful" and characterised the litigation as "pugnacious".
Family's response
Mrs Ball told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I have taught nine, 10 and 11 year olds all my life but I never expected the council to act so babyish, they have been spitting their dummies out of the pram and it has been beyond childish." She added: "It is absolutely shocking behaviour. They did everything they could to bully me. I just want to live peacefully. I am a strong woman and it has brought out my stubborn side."
Throughout her legal fight, Mrs Ball received support from her son, David. He commented: "It has been a long time coming and the council has tried to shut us down for three years and shut down every form of resolution or negotiation, and blanket denied our claim, with three years of distress caused to an 81-year-old woman." Mr Ball estimates the costs to his mother amount to approximately £50,000, which are currently being negotiated as part of the court agreement. He explained that the fence panel was erected two weeks after the secondary anniversary of his father's death, describing it as a "completely unnecessary act of aggression".
