A woman allegedly barricaded a path in front of her neighbours’ homes with a waist-high trellis – spurring 10 locals to threaten legal action.
Residents were left stunned by the sudden appearance of the fence which blocked access to half the walkway on Common Road in Evesham, Worcestershire.
Many elderly residents prefer using the path to avoid going down steep steps at the 150-year-old Victorian terraced homes.
The trellis was put up last month along with a sign with a sign that read ‘Private‘.
Police were called, but decided it was a civil matter.
The 4ft fencing has been torn down and dumped on the path, but residents are now preparing to go to court to ban any fencing being put up in the future.
Joanne Kitchen is one of 10 residents to contact a solicitor in a bid to stop the fence’s owner, said to be Julia Hartley, from blocking the walkway again.
Ms Kitchen, 45, said: ‘For us to go out now we have to go up steps. If someone in a wheelchair or even the emergency services needed access they could not get through.
‘For the people who live here, it is the quickest route towards town and we now have to go all the way around. It is a right of way on all our deeds.
‘It is all getting a bit contentious and it has made things really horrible.
‘I have only lived here for four years, some of the people have been here for 20, 30 years.
‘She (Ms Hartley) tells us she has been here for 30 years so why this is suddenly a problem now I’m not sure.
‘We think she just does not want people walking past her home but she doesn’t have a choice.
‘Because of how close the homes are, we all know each other and during lockdown, everyone helped everyone, we would play a bit of music and have some socially-distant dancing in the mornings.
‘There is one elderly neighbour who does not come out to join us so much now, she can’t get through and doesn’t like the idea of walking all the way around.’
Another neighbour Hannah Owen said: ‘It feels like bullying, my little girls keep saying they just want things to get back to normal. We find it very sad.’
West Mercia Police said: ‘At around 8pm on June 25 we were called to reports of a neighbour dispute over access at Common Road, Evesham.
‘This is a civil matter. However, our safer neighbourhood team is engaging with all parties.’
Ms Hartley declined to comment.
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