Furious homeowners have been warned that their own back gardens could be demolished after being informed they have been encroaching on council-owned land for over three decades.
Residents living in Doncaster Grove, Long Eaton, Derby, have been instructed to either purchase or lease land they believed was their garden – or risk having it reclaimed by the local authority.
Householders are now being forced to spend thousands of pounds to buy back the green spaces they assumed they already owned, with some facing bills of up to £14,000.
Council's Claim on Land
Erewash Borough Council claims 34 properties with large gardens are unlawfully encroaching onto a strip of land it owns, which borders a tributary of the River Erewash and two nature reserves. The council acquired the land in 1995 for £1 from Broxtowe Borough Council and offered residents at the time a rental fee for use of the land.
However, many subsequent buyers say they were never made aware of the arrangement and bought their properties under the assumption that the sizeable gardens were included.
Homeowners now say more than half of their garden is at risk of being taken back, despite lovingly maintaining their outdoor spaces for decades, including installing patios, workshops, greenhouses, sheds and fruit trees. Some say they have been instructed to put up a fence halfway down their gardens to return the council their land back, or face a substantial bill or having them bulldozed.
Residents' Frustrations
David Woodhouse is among those unaware of the ownership arrangement, having bought his two-bedroom detached home in 2009. He has now criticised the spiteful council for attempting to recover the land after never being notified about the garden rent.
The 52-year-old said: 'We didn't know about this when we bought the house and I believed it was my land. The deeds are tiny and not to scale but because you pay solicitors to do searches and land searches, nothing came up on our end. It's the first property I ever bought - when you're buying your house you just expect solicitors to search and highlight that along with any other concerns.'
'Now they want me to pay £140 per square metre initially. My land is about 100 square metres, so about £14,000. All along, I've said come back to us with a realistic price, and we'd look into this. But they have ignored us and not addressed reasonably any questions we've put to them.'
'It's the council's fault and the solicitors but as it's flood land they couldn't even do anything with it. There's a disused sewer that runs through this land. You can't build on it, it's flood land. By taking it off of us, it's just spiteful. They're saying they're going to take it off of us and leave that land doing nothing. It's pretty much a whole half of my garden. I wanted to put a little patio area and get a new shed but I won't be paying for it at the moment with this going on.'
David stated the land provided habitat for various wildlife and maintains the National Wildlife Unit has indicated it would constitute an offence to undertake work on the site without proper surveys. He continued: 'As far as I know, the National Wildlife Unit have said it would be a crime without surveys being conducted for anyone to remove the hedgerows, trees and borders. So the council are asking us to break the law in telling us to remove our borders.'
Financial Burden on Residents
The local authority has provided residents with the option to buy the land, though numerous homeowners claim they cannot meet the eye-watering prices which could exceed £10,000 for certain properties. A rental arrangement was also proposed at approximately £70 monthly, yet the majority state they would find the payments unaffordable.
A further resident, who requested anonymity, expressed feeling as though she was being regarded like a criminal regarding her own rear garden. She explained: 'I didn't realise I didn't own this garden until the council came knocking on the door saying they want to look at my garden. Then I got stung with an £8,000 bill. They have now halved it to £4,000 but that's still ridiculous. They said it was £100 per square metre and these gardens are quite big. Their argument is that people have built on them so the land is valuable.'
'I've lived here since 2019. It wasn't picked up on the solicitors' searches. When you look around a house you assume you're buying all of it. The way they've treated us, it's like we're criminals. There was a suggestion we could buy pieces of land from our neighbours, which would create anarchy. I don't really want to give back this land that I've done a lot of work to. It was around £70 a month for rental, that's like your water bill. I don't want to pay £4,000 for something I've already bought.'
A further resident revealed he had owned his property for 26 years yet only became aware of the land claim in 2023. He explained: 'I moved in here around January 2000 and I never knew anything about it until about two years ago. The council said they want the bottom half of the garden. It's about half of the garden. I'm not paying anything, I've been here 26 years. I'm ignoring them. The last letter I got is saying they want me to put a fence up half way across my garden and give the land back. I'm not going to be giving anything back.'
'There's no way they could physically get to it to knock anything down. There's trees 50 or 60ft high at the bottom of some of the gardens. It's all established. My attitude is I've been here all these years. If they want the fence up they can do it themselves. Why should I pay? It'll just be wasteland.'
Political Reaction
Reform councillor Jodie Brown, of Derbyshire County Council, commented: 'I'm trying to get some justification on the price and why they even want the land back. It has no use or purpose to them. It seems like a chance to gain some cash back. They can't do anything with the land, there's no access to it. It can't be built on or used for arable. They've got no use for this land. It couldn't even be used as an allotment. They've just treated these residents disgustingly, they haven't communicated nearly as well as they should.'
'The highest quality farm land is valued around £27 per square metre, they want almost double the best farm land in the country. They're pirates.'
Council's Response
A representative for Erewash Borough Council stated: 'Erewash Borough Council must manage public assets responsibly to ensure value for all taxpayers. To support Doncaster Grove residents, we have offered flexible options to make their land use official. This includes purchasing at heavily discounted rates, reflecting flood risks and restricted use as well as staged payments, or licensing agreements. We have engaged directly with householders to ensure transparency. Some residents have already accepted these fair terms and are proceeding. There is no obligation to participate; the choice to put their use of the land on a legal footing remains entirely with them.'
