An 80 square metre strip of Burnham-On-Sea land is at the centre of a border dispute between builders, allotment owners and the town council.
Dave Parsons, Chairman of the Burnham Allotment Tenants Association, this week appealed to the town council – which owns the disputed land at the Love Lane allotments pictured above – to help resolve the matter.
Burnham-On-Sea.com reported earlier this year how 12 homes are to be built on land nearby, but now an argument has blown up over where the boundary of the land starts and finishes.
“The allotment site has a boundary with a parcel of land known as ‘land to the rear of 1 Hawkins Close’ on which 12 houses are to be built. Our concern is the line of this boundary,” said Mr Parsons at a council meeting on Monday night (August 7th).
“After about six years or so of this land being up for sale, only on July 28th this year was the boundary line finally defined according to the developer.”
“But the problem is that their vision of the boundary is not what we believe it to be. We believe it to be along the natural boundary line following the gate, pig sty and hedgerow and following the line on old maps.”
“The developer’s vision very conveniently lines up with the boundary fence between Nos 2 and 3 Hawkins Close, which is far too convenient to be believed. Their vision shows it to be 2’8″ out from our boundary line at pole 6 and only eight metres from the east/west boundary line and nine to ten foot out at the Hawkins Close end.”
“This extra land amounts to approximately 80 square metres of land belonging to the allotment site. If their vision of the boundary is followed, then we lose the hedge which we want to retain for security and wind protection. We have maps and diagrams dating from at least 1976 which show the boundary to be where we say.”
Mr Parsons appealed to town councillors to investigate further and help to resolve the matter as soon as possible.
Town Clerk Eileen Shaw said the issue was a challenging one, given the apparent conflicting information about the location of the boundary line.
The council is to consult with other property owners whose land backs on to the site in coming weeks before deciding how to proceed.
