'I'm paying a security guard £150 a day to stop developers demolishing my tiny brick wall'

A man is paying a security guard £1,000 a week to protect a garden wall from developers who he says want to knock it down. Roger White, 59, is paying a security company to guard the two-brick-high wall, which he inherited from his dad in 1997.

Lioncourt Homes said it needed to demolish the 52-year-old 'dwarf wall' to create an emergency access route in line with their planning permission to build new homes. But Roger says the two-brick high wall next to a development of 70 homesin Hempsted, Gloucester, is his and on land he was left by his dad. He says the plot of land was valued at £10,000 in 2017. Roger feels he is being "bullied" by the developers, who he says did not approach him to purchase it before construction began. They later sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mr White saying that he had "no entitlement to a ransom" over the wall. Lioncourt Homes has erected a fence and gate at the site and insists it has already installed the required emergency access, without requiring any third-party land. But Mr White disagrees that the developer has complied with the planning requirements, as he says he owns the land needed for access.

Mr White is so concerned that the developer is just going to demolish the wall, he has hired a security guard to protect it. He added that he has proof that the wall next to a development is his and that it was not adopted by Highways.

Mr White, who works in IT, said: "Lioncourt Homes are just doing what they want. I am paying £150 a day to have a security guard protecting the wall.

"I am concerned they are just going to demolish the wall, even though it is my wall and ignore all my rights. This is my dad's - it is a legacy that my dad has left. It upsets me that Lioncourt Homes just ignore the fact that it's my wall."

Lioncourt apparently has documents from 1964, which it says show it owns the wall. But Mr White says he has documents from 1971 that prove the wall belongs to him, including his Land Registry ownership proof.

He said: "I want to do some repairs to the wall so that is why there's construction fencing up. I've got a builder who's doing repairs for the wall. It hasn't been repaired for 52 years since my dad built it in 1974 and to protect my interests I've got a security company to protect it all.

"Other people are left homes and sadly when your parents die you inherit things and if you're very lucky it's a house, but not always. In my case my dad left me this dwarf wall and it's most unusual but that's what he left me."

Most of the homes are now occupied but Mr White says that, there is a health a safety risk for residents without the emergency access.

He said: "The dwarf wall is in my name and correctly registered in the land registry - it is the most peculiar situation. I don't understand how we can get to the point of 70 houses being built and nobody has actually looked into this before."

In a cease-and-desist letter sent to Mr White last year the developer said he had "no entitlement to a ransom" over the wall. He added that Lioncourt Homes is attempting to get retrospective discharge of the planning conditions.

Mr White's father Ernie was a local estate agent in Gloucester and he purchased a number of 'ransom strips' as potential investments. He said: "My dad left me this dwarf wall for a reason."

A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said then: "We consider that the legal boundary of Lioncourt's land directly adjoins the public road of Honeythorn Close.

"Legal boundaries have no physical width (regardless of the physical boundary's appearance) and the highway status takes precedence over whoever owns the ground beneath it. Therefore, the council considers that the works to create the emergency vehicle access as required by planning can be lawfully implemented."

A spokesperson for Lioncourt Homes said: "Works required to implement our planning permission is in land wholly owned by Lioncourt Homes or is in adopted highway land, no third-party land is required. The emergency access has now been installed."