oh great STW oracle… can you answer my question. Google has failed me!

I’ve just put an offer in on a house, but won’t hear whether the vendors have accepted it until tomorrow. 😐

anyway, the back garden (more courtyard than garden) of this house backs on to a really nice playing field / public park. There is free, ungated access to the park from the road, with the main access being next to this house. The back garden is fully enclosed, with the only way out being through the house (or the massive man-cave garage – more on that later!).

My question is, can I put a gate in the hedge surrounding the back garden to allow me to go straight into the park without going around?

If I can do it, Is it a planning permission thing, or an ‘ask the council and hope they are having a good day’ thing, or can I just do it without asking anyone.

Dave

Who’s hedge is it?

Walk round you lazy man !

Just do it. People are programmed to say no, esp in the public sector. Forgiveness more likely than permission.

hedge would be mine.

I would walk round, but having a gate would make the difference between having the park as a pseudo lawn and it being a park which wasn’t far away.

Next time I’m down there I’ll scout around the perimeter to see if anyone else has a gate.

Really want this house, check out the man cave!!

Dave

Why add a nice easy route into your property for burgalers?

I’d probably make it a very sturdy gate, only openable from the inside, with a hefty lock on it. It is also in a really nice neighbourhood, so shouldn’t be too many tea-leaves around (hopefully).

Dave

Agree with spongebob, as nice as access straight to the park sounds, the less access for burglars the better in my eyes! Especially with a garage like that, as you’ll just need to fill it full of expensive bikes and other toys! 😉

If you put the moat in with sharks I think you can get away with not having to worry about burglars… (I’m thinking ‘Vector’ in Despicable Me to protect the garage/home contents)

A good gate should not be any more of a security risk than a fence.

I dunno if this helps.. but there’s a park/playing field in a little town just up the road.. with about 30 odd garden gates opening onto it..
very nice it is too..

so it’s definitely possible

Certainly possible – a mate has a gate into a public park at the end of his garden, one bright spark in our village has a gate between his back garden and the pub beer garden – genius!

Cheers guys, sounds like it is potentially doable. I’ll wait to see if I get the house before I plan to much more – that way lies madness!

There was another couple looking around just after us, they were on their 3rd viewing and the estate agent reckoned they would put an offer in this weekend. The sellers are quick-turnaround developers, so we’re hoping to sway them by offering to go for a May completion (we have a cash offer on our house).

Fingers crossed!
Dave

My sister had a house with access to a lovely public park / old cemetery in South London. She and all the neighbours had tiny gardens (like patio sized, all paved), and then gates onto a meadow area. Just before they left the house (a year or so ago) the council came round and informed all residents that private access was illegal. Legal documents were involved by the time they left the house, and it was sold as having no right of access.

Spongebob – Member
Why add a nice easy route into your property for burgalers?

+1 for this. Most people with property backing onto parkland would probably be beefing up security not putting a gate in.

not so sure the thief thing is anything more than paranoia. I assume you can and I would just do it and se what happens. If they object then build an elaborate seize tower device so everything is on your land but swings out under remote cotrol to climb down into the park – careful dont build it so big you cant get it out of the man cave. On the plus side it should also help you repel the hoards of robbers you seem destined to attract with a gate.

I’ve got one into a park, as has my sister at her house. IIRC nobody gives a stuff.

Both were already there when we bought our houses and neither came up as being an issue in the searches. As far as I can tell mine is the only one round our way with a gate, so I’m guessing that a previous owner just “did it”.

alfabus – Member
I’d probably make it a very sturdy gate, only openable from the inside, with a hefty lock on it. It is also in a really nice neighbourhood, so shouldn’t be too many tea-leaves around (hopefully).

Dave

Posted 6 hours ago # Report-Post

So you may have some nice stuff, that the not so locals will want, tea leafs rarely nick from their own area as theyre known there.

Gate ,fence , lock etc, theyll get in if they want, all you can do is make it as dificulyt for them as possible.

…repel the hoards of robbers you seem destined to attract with a gate.

😆

I will be heavily fortifying the man-cave itself… there will be pits with punji sticks, man-traps, bear-traps, mouse-traps, automatic minigun turrets and killer bees. Also I’ll probably put some decent locks on all the doors, an alarm, lots of ground anchors and some meaty chains and locks on the bikes themselves.

The infamous gate would be a solid affair with no handle on the park side, but I suspect they’ll just go through the hedge if they’re that keen, or come through the fence at the front!

This is all academic at the moment, I need to wait until tomorrow before I find out if it’s mine.

Dave

gahhh!!! why won’t they call?? Could hardly sleep last night, need to know if I’m getting the house!

Dave

Alfabus

I recall you have something very nice to store in the man cave? unless I am getting you mixed up with a previous poster?

My brother in laws garden backs out onto a very nice enclosed field. He and all the other neighbours have gates which back onto it. We were playing golf in the sunshine yesterday!

My gate is made from a security mesh that makes it almost invisible when viewed from more than a few feet away. The top of it is both very thin and very pointy so only the most determind of scum can get over it. I am also doing my best to cultivate the brambles and nettles on the other side of it.

Good luck with the wait!

surfer, you may be getting me mixed up with the guy who has a nice alfa gtv or fulvia – can’t remember what it was exactly. I used to have an alfa 33 cloverleaf, which was half the genesis of my name (the other half being a vdub campervan), but not any more… now I have an audi like everyone else!

Dave

This is very bizarre, I’ve never met Alfabus, but I’m still sat here thinking to myself ‘I hope he gets the offer accepted’ 😕

jengledow, thanks! I believe that is called man-cave empathy. No-one would begrudge a fellow stw’er a man cave of such beauty!

Dave

Have you got your mortgage approved or just a mortgage offer?

The 2 things are light years apart these days unfortunately, i wouldnt be getting my hopes up until you have actually got a cast iron mortgage.

Of course what I have just said is irrelevant if your not mortgaging

Go on google earth to see what neighbours have done. If none of them have gates then it would be making the house more attractive to burglars.

mortgage application is being processed today, which is another thing for me to worry about and wait for.

We have a decent deposit (LTV is about 64%) and no debt outside the mortgage, the only worry is that the missus is going to need to change jobs when we move, so they might get shirty about that; I’m transferring with the same company so my salary is reliable enough.

There aren’t many other houses that back on to the park near this one, but there are a fair few on the other side of the park; i’ll investigate to see if they have gates.

Dave

I’ve never met Alfabus, but I’m still sat here thinking to myself ‘I hope he gets the offer accepted’

+1

good luck dude!

just heard from the estate agent… there are 2 offers on the table, both the same amount.

Our offer is subject to us selling our house, we have a cash, investment buyer who wants to complete ASAP.
The other offer is from some people who are renting at the moment, I don’t know what their mortgage or rental notice period is like.

The agent hasn’t managed to speak to the vendor yet.

Argh! this is torture!

Dave

Can you knock another grand off? This is killing me.

do you mean put another grand on?

I do. I’m a bag of nerves here.

the missus is going to need to change jobs when we move

Makes no difference, you don’t even need to mention it – your mortgage decision is based on your circumstances now, not at some point in the future. Good luck!

Sealed bids next?

Anyhow, back on topic- how high is the hedge? what is the park used for? does it have gates and are these locked (i.e. at night?). Oh and is the property (or less likely the park) listed? Or in a conservation area?

In any event, no it’s unlikely you can legally create a private access to a public park, by doing so you cease to make your use ‘public’ and you are therefore committing trespass.

Secondly the hedge may well be yours but you can be damn sure either you or the Council will have a covenant or condition in your deeds requiring you to maintain it (i.e. make sure no-one can get access from the park to you or vice-versa).

Finally, as you suspected, in certain circumstances you could be required to obtain planning permission (dependant upon height of the hedge / access and proximity to the public highway). Also Listed Building Consent (which would not be granted) if the property is Listed (the listing will include ‘the curtilage’ as well as the buildings).

There’s a road near where I live that backs on to park and all the residents have put gates in so they can walk into the park and I don’t blame them.

A few have gone a step further and kindof ‘blended’ their gardens into the park – no obvious boundary, they mow the lawn just that little bit further every time, plant a few flowers. move the kid’s trampoline just that little bit further away from the house etc 😉

OMG! I’ve got a gate out the front of my house on to a pavement which the public have unimpeded access to! I didn’t realise what a security risk this was! I’m knocking off work now before my house gets completely done over!

OMG! I’ve got a gate out the front of my house on to a pavement which the public have unimpeded access to! I didn’t realise what a security risk this was! I’m knocking off work now before my house gets completely done over!

😀

OMG! I’ve got a gate out the front of my house on to a pavement which the public have unimpeded access to! I didn’t realise what a security risk this was! I’m knocking off work now before my house gets completely done over!

Back access is way more vulnerable than front access.

Back access is way more vulnerable than front access.

😯
*clenches*

Isn’t there some sort of archaic law whereby if you put an access into a public area from your garden then it becomes a right of way for the general public, i.e. anyone is allowed to access the park through your garden?

I vaguely remember something about this in the news years ago when a load of walkers started going through someones garden and they couldn’t do anything about it. Plus they weren’t allowed to remove the gate as it had become a legal right of way.

Or have I got it completely wrong….???