‘It’s over-the-top,’ say furious neighbours after council spends £100k building 210ft garden wall around family’s home
NEIGHBOURS are furious after a council spent £100,000 building a 210ft wall around one family's home.
Locals in Norwich have condemned the 6ft high divide as “ridiculous” and a “disgusting” waste of taxpayers’ money.
The wall was built around the home of Mike Baxter, 44, and wife Jo, 38, in St Williams Way after they sold the land to the council.
Norfolk County Council bought the strip as part of their ongoing £4.4m project to redevelop a roundabout.
While the Baxters love the wall, it has left locals fuming as the partition cost £100,000 to build and is much higher than any other walls nearby.
The Eastern Daily Press reported the £100,000 cost of building the wall, which the council owns, emerged during a council meeting.
Read more money
Patricia Cleaver, 86, who lives nearly opposite said: “I think it’s disgusting to spend £100,000 of public money on a wall.
“They went over the top as far as I am concerned. It is just ridiculous. I can’t see the sense of it.”
Cleaver also said she was fed up with the traffic chaos caused by the roundabout scheme construction work.
She added: “The council were making out that it was an accident blackspot.
“But I have lived here since 1985, and I have only known three accidents. They should have left things alone.”
The Baxters previously had a string of giant conifer trees and bushes marking the front boundary of their detached home - which they had bought for £440,000 in 2020.
But council chiefs bought the strip of land around the entire curving frontage of their home after ruling they needed more space for pedestrians and a cycleway.
The council cut back all the vegetation and built the family a brand new wall so they could enjoy a level of privacy.
Benas Vitkauskas, 40, whose home looks out on the wall is also far from impressed with it.
The builder who specialises in loft conversions said: “It is huge and it seems very expensive. I am sure I could have built it for a third of the price.”
Vitkauskas said he was also unhappy as he was refused planning consent to increase the size of his own 3ft tall garden wall by just 1ft.
He said: “They declined my application because it didn’t meet the regulations, yet they allowed this other wall to be built nearly 7ft tall.”
Clock maker Eric Wickenden, 86, who lives nearby, said: “Everybody else has got low walls. Why does this one have to be double the size?
“I know it gives the family who live there more privacy, so it is fantastic for them, especially as they have got it for free.”
Matthew Moore, service manager at the Number One Motor Company garage beside the roundabout, said work on the road scheme started on September 11 last year.
It was supposed to finish at the end of March, but he has been told that contractors want an extra four or five weeks.
At the moment there are traffic lights controlling traffic with just one lane open around the roadworks – but locals have been warned that the roundabout may have to close completely for the final phase of work.
Moore said: “They started on the wall as soon as the project began, and took ages building it. As a wall it is very impressive, but the cost is just mind blowing and incredible.
“Local people are really concerned about the traffic scheme, and want to know who insisted on having the roundabout changed because none of the local businesses wanted it.”
Jonathan Mott, a director of the Yellow Brick Wills and Estate Planning, joked sarcastically about the £100,000 cost of the wall.
He said: “It is nice to know that my council tax is going on something so worthwhile.
“If it is the case that it cost £100,000 and was built to stop overhanging branches dropping on pedestrians, then the world we live in has gone mad.
“The wall is not really in character of the house. It doesn’t offend me – but was it necessary.”
Other business owners including Ozgul Balcimer, who owns Hartlands fish and chip shop, have questioned how the council spent so much on the wall while not paying compensation for disruption caused by the roundabout work.
Anne Martin, 50, the owner of the Great Eastern Model Railways shop, said: “The roadworks are a complete nightmare. Most people say we simply don’t need these improvements.
“They built the wall because it was part of the deal with the council buying some of this couple’s land.
“It’s a wonderful wall, and for £100,000 you would want it to be, but as a taxpayer I don’t want to foot the bill.
“My overall concern is how long this scheme is taking. It is putting people off from coming to the area because they are being warned to stay away, but in reality the hold-ups are not that bad.”
Lewis Craddock, the manager of nearby Hunts Pharmacy, said: “A lot of customers come in and talk about the wall.
“But I am more concerned about the time it has taken to build it and finish the roundabout.
“It has been going on for ages and a lot of businesses have been complaining because traffic delays are keeping people away.
“As we are a pharmacy, people generally still make an effort to come her for prescriptions, but passing traffic for other things we sell has declined.”
Mother-of-two Baxter, a physiotherapist, confirmed that she and her bar owner husband had asked for the wall to be built as part of a deal for the council to buy part of their land.
She said: “We wanted it to be a significant size because to compensate for losing our trees which were as high as the lampposts.
“We are every pleased with it. The work involved taking away all the shrubbery which was occupying a huge part of the garden, so now we actually have more space.
“It took them about four or five months to complete the wall. It was a significant amount of time. They told us that it had enough bricks for three houses.”
Baxter refused to disclose what the council had paid for their land, saying: “It was a negotiation. The council started off low and we started off high.”
Norfolk County Council decided it needed to buy some of the Baxter’s land in “a private arrangement” to “provide additional space for those walking and cycling around the junction”.
It was agreed with the landowner as part of the deal that a 6ft wall would be built “to provide privacy, considering the previous boundary consisted of tall, dense foliage”.
The council considered the wall was also needed to deal with drainage and differences in levels of the path while providing “a strong, safe and secure boundary in close proximity to a busy footway and cycleway”.
Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, said: “The purchase of land from a private owner to deliver key infrastructure is very different from the topic of providing compensation to commercial businesses.
“Feedback from our consultation on improvements to Heartsease roundabout told us that many people who cycle and walk through the area would prefer more space with segregated facilities and we could not have delivered this on the corner of St Williams Way without securing the land.
“As a result, we pursued the purchase of the land needed, rather than delivering the shared-use path in the original proposals within a limited space.
“I understand that this element seems like a significant cost but the overall project remains within budget and I’m pleased we’ve been able to provide a better outcome for people travelling on foot and by bike.
“The main objective of this project is to improve on the roundabout’s currently very poor safety record, particularly for those cycling, and the presence of a separate path for them is a huge asset to the final scheme.”
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Steve Morphew, the council’s Labour group leader, said: "It is staggering that Graham Plant can justify £100,000 for a massive wall to replace a low wooden fence and some shrubs, but nothing for the businesses on the brink, because of an overrunning scheme that was excessively long anyway.
"No wonder people get furious with how Norfolk Tories splash our cash."
What are your rights?
As Norfolk Council legally bought the strip of land off the Baxters, they had control over what was built there.
They consulted with the public on the wall as part of their wider consultation on the redevelopment of Heartsease roundabout.
During this public consultation process is when locals would have had the best opportunity to change any plans.
Now that the wall is built and the council received the appropriate commissions, to get the wall changed would require private litigation or the council to change its mind.
