'Spiteful' Derbyshire council “barricaded” elderly resident and a young family in their own homes - in a bid to secure a car park it wants to sell

Derbyshire County Council closed its car park in Cavendish Road, Matlock, and blocked the entrance with barriers on April 21, with residents who had been allowed to use the site for decades given just a couple of days’ notice.

After this impromptu closure, the council went one step further and, early in the morning on April 26, installed two fence panels across the rear garden gates of two properties in George Road, which lead onto the car park, and cemented them into the ground.

This was carried out without any notice and consultation and means the residents cannot exit from the rear of their own properties.

The county council claims there are no legal rights of way across its land.

Both households suspect the move was done spitefully due to residents in the area forming a community group, the Matlock Community Land Trust, in a bid to buy the car park.

The county council has plans to sell the site to pave the way for 30 homes, while the community group is planning eight homes, allotments, a community orchard and car parking.

A 77-year-old woman who has lived in one of the properties since 1966 told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the move to fence over her garden gate was unfair and unnecessary.

She says there has been an exit from the rear of her house ever since she moved in and before the site was turned into a car park.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, said she would now have to walk a much further distance around to visit relatives in Cavendish Road, which she says she would be unable to do due to health conditions – with the rear garden gate having provided a vital shortcut.

She feels as if she has been seen as a vulnerable person who can be mistreated without consequence.

The woman told the LDRS: “It is spiteful and petty. If it wasn’t bad enough with the car park being closed off, with cars now parked everywhere, blocking visibility.

“We think it is a reaction to the community group forming.

“I feel hemmed in. I lost my husband two years ago and a woman on her own feels very vulnerable… people see you on your own and think they can walk all over you.

“Blocking off part of the car park to allow some people to park and allow people to walk out of their back gardens would be an option, but I think this has been done out of spite.

“They have made it as difficult as possible for you because we are putting forward plans that they don’t want you to do, that’s what we think.

“When I came home and saw this I was so upset. I haven’t opened the garden gate since, I didn’t sleep for three nights when the fence first went up, I was so upset.

“I do not need this at age 77. I’ve had enough upset in my life and I just need to spend my remaining years in peace. I don’t need any more trauma.

“If they can behave like this they really should not be in the positions they are in. They are supposed to have people in who care for the community not cause them upset.”

The second home which had its rear garden gate blocked belongs to a young family, who had frequently used that exit to take their three children out on their bikes via the car park.

A father of three who has lived there for a few years, who did not want to be identified, said: “For me it was frustrating to come home and see that this had been done to our home without any notice at all, and it was obviously pre-planned because the panels fit the gaps perfectly.

“To not notify us is the most frustrating bit. It is completely unnecessary because they had already closed the car park, it feels like there is an agenda.

“I was angry, you felt like you were being barricaded into your own back garden, really penned in, it feels like the council has an agenda and says it owns that land and wants to enforce that.

“We have always had that access, the fences have changed but the gaps in the wall have been there and we have never been challenged over that.

“I understand that they have that land and can do what they want but to block it off completely is unnecessary and then to go one step further and fence us in is not fair and is a mistake.

“They have clearly made a mistake and gone too far and have clearly been trying to draw the line. It is clearly unnecessary and is no way to behave at all. It is them showing a mark of authority.

“These fences over our garden gates don’t stop anyone else from walking onto the car park from Cavendish Road, and we can walk around that way too, so there seems to only be one reason: to mark their authority.”

He says the council informed him that Land Registry ownership shows the boundary and that this has been checked with the authority’s legal department, but he says this does not account for access rights, just land ownership.

Both households are also concerned about fire safety with their rear exits providing an additional means of escape, along with parking issues on surrounding roads blocking access for emergency vehicles due to no longer being able to park off the streets.

A county council spokesperson said: “There are no legal rights of way registered on the title deed held by the Land Registry across the former car park off Cavendish Road or for access from properties on George Street.

“The land was used for many years as a car park for our employees who worked at Chatsworth Hall but as we no longer have any employees using Chatsworth Hall, we no longer have a need for the car park.

“Our duty to the taxpayers of Derbyshire is to seek best value for any land or buildings we no longer need and so we secured the site while we look for alternative options for the land.

“We’re aware that a small number of local residents had been using the car park and we wrote to all residents in close proximity to the site to let them know that the site would be secured and to ask them to move their vehicles before this date, which they did.”