Are BELLWAY HOMES guilty of stealing land on Browns Lane in Coventry ?

As a local resident of Browns Lane, Coventry, I can empathise with local residents about the developmental changes that have disrupted the lives of local Coventrians living in the Allesley area. Allesley Grange, a site now owned by BELLWAY HOMES, has been at the centre of local debates regarding issues such as: the increase of crime in the area, the deterioration of the road surfaces due to the increased traffic volumes, the impact on local schools, doctors surgeries, and the general lack of infrastructure to service extra dwellings in the area.

Not only have we residents been disrupted as a community, but according to local resident, Mr. Russell Garner, BELLWAY HOMES are now ‘stealing land to maximise their development at Allesley Grange’. Mr. Garner, who resides on Browns Lane, has been forced at great cost to prove legally that land owned by him has been taken deliberately by BELLWAY HOMES, and he is now finalising legal documentation to go to court with the support of a Chartered Surveyor and Mander Hadley Solicitors in Coventry.

According to Mr. Garner ‘The  previous  owners of my house were among neighbouring homeowners who all sold part of their land to a small developer. A fence was then put up marking 107 metres  from the Jaguar boundary to my boundary.’

The land was later sold by the small developer to BELLWAY HOMES. A few months after he moved in, Mr. Garner says he was visited by a site manager who told him the fence was in the wrong place. According to Mr. Garner "...it was blatant opportunism  with BELLWAY HOMES management believing that they could maximise this development unchallenged.", Mr. Garner says the manager called in workers who moved the fence 2 metres closer to his boundary, making the final distance from the Jaguar boundary now 109 metres.

Within a short period of time, Mr. Garner arrived home to find concrete footings had been poured right behind his fence and BELLWAY HOMES were proceeding to erect garages behind his fence, thus preventing the fence from being moved once again.

“My gut feeling was that I had been cheated, but I could not prove otherwise at that time and while extremely annoyed and frustrated, I just tried to forget about it,”  Mr. Garner said.

It was only later when he got hold of information relating to the purchase of the house originally that he saw a copy of the land sale measurement, confirming the distance should be 107 metres. It was then that the penny dropped! Mr. Garner went to solicitor Peter Mander, of Mander Hadley Solicitors in Coventry, who contacted BELLWAY HOMES' lawyers.  At this point the issues that Mr. Garner raised should have been resolved, but in his opinion they were deliberately ignored by BELLWAY HOMES' Management. In addition to taking Mr. Garner's land  BELLWAY HOMES appear to have been allowed  to amend the plans to the original development, to build larger town houses and thus maximizing the development further with more ‘dwellings’ on this all ready condensed development.

Mr. Garner told me of a similar case in Essex, where 23-year-old Georgina Blackwell successfully represented herself and her mother in court against BELLWAY HOMES. Mr. Garner has been overwhelmed with support from family, friends and local residents, who see this for what it really is, which is, in his opinion ‘...a contrived and farsical situation created intentionally by BELLWAY HOMES, with full support from Coventry City Council’.

According to Mr. Garner ‘This has been allowed to happen through greed and exploitation of the Government's condensed housing development requirements’. Mr. Garner has spent the best part of a year trying to resolve the issue, and BELLWAY HOMES' Management and Solicitors just arrogantly and intentionally ignore any opportunities to rectify the situation.

The houses now located behind Mr. Garner's home are up for sale!

Please have your say and add your own comments if you have experienced similar problems, or if you can shed any light on Mr. Garner’s situation. All feedback will be passed onto Mr. Garner.

If you have a legal issue you need to discuss and would like to talk to a firm of reputable solicitors CLICK HERE for more information about the services Newsome Vaughan Solicitors in Coventry can provide.