Shropshire woman thousands of pounds out of pocket over land deal

Margaret Oakley applied to buy the lane, which had become overgrown and a haven for people to dump their rubbish.

Mrs Oakley, who lives in Gainsborough Farm, in Hilton, near Bridgnorth, approached Shropshire Council to buy the land and paid £3,500. She applied for a 'stopping up order' to officially close the road off the B4176.

The deal went through the courts but when she tried to register the land in her name she was told by the Land Registry the order only applied to half of the road.

Mrs Oakley said 14 months after first applying for the order she was no closer to gaining ownership of the road but was still £3,500 out of pocket.

She said: "During the early part of past year, around February, we had a lot of flytipping on the road off the B4176.

"We got fed up with it so we approached Shropshire Council about a stopping up order.

"A council official came down to tell us there was no reason why not because nobody used it and he would look into it.

"The road was all measured up and we were told it would cost £3,500 to get the order done.

"By December 18 we went to court and everything went through with no problems.

"But when we came to register the land we were told we had to do that ourselves, so we went to the Land Registry offices.

"We were informed we could not do it because we didn't have the correct paperwork."

Mrs Oakley said she was sent back to Shropshire Council because the Land Registry had not been given all the correct details.

"It seems the council has changed all the rules now because now we have to find who owned the land before," she said.

"We know it was a Mr and Mrs Kirkland who used to own Gainsborough Farm, who have both since passed away.

"I have also got a neighbour who lives close by who said she remembered the road but she had no interest in it so we could carry on.

"I went back to the council again and it has now been three months with no contact – or 14 months since I first started looking into this.

"Each time I ring the council I'm told the person I'm after is in a meeting and weeks later we are still £3,500 down and no better off.

"The council has broken a contract with us and we want to know how many more people have suffered with the same problem.

"We are £3,500 out of pocket and have nothing to show for it. We won't stop until all this is sorted out."

Marion Shelley, spokesman for the Land Registry, said: "Mrs Oakley came to the Land Registry asking to register part of an old roadway adjoining their land together with some land between the old and new roadways.

"Unfortunately, the stopping up order accompanying the application would only have enabled us to register half of the roadway, and not the other half or the land on the other side between the old and new roads.

"We explained this to her at the time of her visit and followed it up by letter."

Shropshire Council was unavailable for comment.