Residents denied gate access

21/10/2008

Residents in Calne, Wiltshire, have expressed outrage at being charged £50 to use their own garden gates.

According to the Telegraph, people living in a cul-de-sac in Tyning Park have been told that they will be unable to pass through the wooden garden gates at the end of their garden and into the woods beyond unless they pay the levy.

The warning came despite the fact that the woods are a public right of way used daily by hundreds of people.

"I don't use the gate very much anyway, hardly at all, but the principle of the thing is what gets me," said John Watkins, a local resident who is leading opposition against the fee.

So too, he added, blocking off gate access could prove dangerous in the event of a fire.

Elsewhere, the Forres Gazette has noted that residents in Thornhill, Cheshire have expressed opposition at plans to construct a cyclepath outside their houses on the grounds that it would pose a threat to people coming out of their front gates.