Neighbors anger as council spends £100,000 building huge garden wall around house

NEIGHBORS are furious after a council spent £100,000 building a 60 meter wall around a family’s home.

Locals in Norwich have condemned the six-foot gorge as “ridiculous” and a “disgusting” waste of taxpayers’ money.

7

7

7

7

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 £4.4 million project to redevelop a roundabout.

Although the Baxters love the wall, it has infuriated locals as it cost £100,000 to build and is much taller than any other wall in the area.

The Eastern Daily Press reported that the £100,000 cost of building the wall, which the council owns, emerged at a council meeting.

Patricia Cleaver, 86, who lives almost opposite, said: “I think it’s disgusting to spend £100,000 of public money on a wall.

“As far as I’m concerned, they’ve gone over the top. It’s just ridiculous. I don’t see the point in it.”

Cleaver also said she was fed up with the traffic chaos caused by the roundabout construction work.

She added: “The council made it clear that it was an accident.

“But I have lived here since 1985 and have only had three accidents. They should have left it alone.”

The Baxters previously had a row of giant conifers and shrubs marking the front boundary of their detached house – which they bought for £440,000 in 2020.

But council chiefs bought the strip of land surrounding the entire curved facade of their home after deciding they needed more space for pedestrians and a cycle path.

The council cut back all vegetation and built a brand new wall for the family so they could enjoy a degree of privacy.

Benas Vitkauskas, 40, whose house faces the wall, is also far from impressed.

The builder who specializes in loft conversions said: “It’s huge and it seems very expensive. I’m sure I could have built it for a third of the price.”

Vitkauskas said he was also unhappy because he was refused planning permission to increase the size of his own 90cm high garden wall by just 30cm.

He said: “They rejected my application because it didn’t meet the regulations, but they still built this other wall almost 2 meters high.”

Clockmaker Eric Wickenden, 86, who lives nearby, said: “Everyone has low walls. Why does it have to be twice as big?

“I know it gives the family who live there more privacy, so it’s great for them, especially because they got it for free.”

Matthew Moore, service manager at Number One Motor Company garage next to the roundabout, said work on the road project started on September 11 last year.

It should be ready by the end of March, but he has been told that contractors want an extra four to five weeks.

Currently, traffic lights are controlling traffic with only one lane open around the roadworks – but locals have been warned that the roundabout may need to be closed completely for the final phase of the works.

Moore said: “They started on the wall as soon as the project started, and it took ages to build it. As a wall it is very impressive, but the cost is simply staggering and incredible.

“Locals are very concerned about the traffic plan and want to know who pushed for the roundabout to be changed because none of the local businesses wanted it.”

Jonathan Mott, director of Yellow Brick Wills and Estate Planning, sarcastically joked about the £100,000 cost of the wall.

He said: ‘It’s nice to know my council tax is going towards something valuable.

“If it is true that it cost £100,000 and was built to prevent overhanging branches from falling on pedestrians, then the world we live in has gone mad.

“The wall is not really characteristic of the house. It doesn’t offend me, but was it necessary.”

Other business owners, including Ozgul Balcimer, owner of Hartlands fish and chip shop, have questioned how the council spent so much on the wall without paying compensation for the disruption caused by the roundabout works.

Anne Martin, 50, 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 agreement that the municipality would buy part of the land from this couple.

“It’s a beautiful wall and for £100,000 you’d want that, but as a taxpayer I don’t want to foot the bill.

“My overall concern is how long this plan will last. It deters people from coming to the area because they are warned to stay away, but in reality the robberies are not that bad.”

Lewis Craddock, the manager of nearby Hunts Pharmacy, said: “Lots of customers come in and talk about the wall.

“But I’m more concerned about the time it took to build it and complete the roundabout.

“It has been going on for ages and many businesses are complaining because traffic delays keep people away.

“Because we are a pharmacy, people generally still make an effort to come in for prescriptions, but passing traffic for other things we sell has decreased.”

Mother-of-two Baxter, a physiotherapist, confirmed that she and her bar owner husband had requested the wall be built as part of an agreement for the council to buy some of their land.

She said: “We wanted it to be of significant size to compensate for the loss of our trees, which were as tall as the lampposts.

“We are all happy with it. The work consisted of removing all the shrubs that took up a large part of the garden, so we now actually have more space.

“It took them about four to five months to complete the wall. It was a significant amount of time. They told us there were enough bricks for three houses.”

Baxter refused to reveal what the council had paid for their land, saying: “It was a negotiation. The church started low and we started high.”

Norfolk County Council decided it was necessary to purchase some of the Baxter’s land in “a private arrangement” to provide “additional space for those walking and cycling around the intersection”.

As part of the deal, it was agreed with the landowner that a six-foot wall would be built “to provide privacy as the previous boundary consisted of tall, dense foliage.”

The council felt the wall was also necessary to accommodate drainage and changes in level of the path while providing “a strong, secure boundary in close proximity to a busy pedestrian and cycle path”.

Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, said: “The purchase of land from a private owner to deliver important infrastructure is very different to the issue of providing compensation to commercial companies.

“Feedback from our consultation on improvements to the Heartsease roundabout told us that many people cycling and walking through the area would prefer more space with segregated facilities and that we could not have delivered this on the corner of St Williams Way without to secure the country.

“As a result, we have pursued the purchase of the necessary land, rather than offering the shared use path within a limited space in the original proposals.

“I understand that this may seem like a significant cost, but the overall project remains within budget and I am pleased that we have been able to deliver a better outcome for people traveling on foot and by bike.

“The main aim of this project is to improve the currently very poor safety performance of the roundabout, especially for cyclists. The presence of a separate path for them is a huge asset to the final plan.”

Steve Morphew, leader of the council’s Labor group, said: ‘It’s mind-boggling that Graham Plant can justify £100,000 for a huge wall to replace a low wooden fence and some shrubs, but nothing for the businesses on the edge because of an exceedance plan. that was way too long anyway.

“No wonder people are furious about the way Norfolk Tories are splashing our money around.”

7

7

7