Cumbria residents fight for gates use

21/06/2009

Residents near Parkview School's grounds in Cumbria are upset that the council has asked them not to use gates that provide them with access to the perimeter of their properties, it has been reported.

In a Cumbria County Council letter to residents, solicitor John Mallinson wrote that residents should not use the gates any longer and should make them "unusable", according to the North West Evening Mail.

Mr Mallinson suggested that the ideal way to make the gates inoperative would be to remove and replace them with "materials of a type similar to those in the existing wall".

However, property lawyer Chris Barron, from Brown Barron solicitors in Barrow, told the newspaper that residents may be able to claim an "easement obtained by prescription over a period of more than 20 years" and may have a "prescriptive right" to use the gates.

There was some more positive news in Cumbria this month, as the council revealed that the South Walney Nature Reserve project won the Cumbria Best Practice gong at the North West Regional Construction Awards in Southport.

This may have been partly down to some sterling gates work on the area.