Public footpath shut for over a year as neighbour and local council engage in row over ownership

Brighton & Hove City Council and homeowners have been locked into an argument over who owns the land since a wall blew over in a storm.

The council claims it had spoken to the householder who owned the wall to get it repaired, however, the property has since been put up for auction - with no repair having taken place.

However, neighbours on the opposite side of the footpath stated that the path was on private property and that they had been granting permissive access since moving in 22 years ago.

"I feel appalled [that it’s taken so long], it should have been sorted a long time ago," resident Dawn Harper told the BBC.

Jacqui Bell added: "We’ve found it very inconvenient, we can’t quite understand why it has got to this point."

Another anonymous resident said: "I’m sure the shops have lost some trade from it, people are using cars when they can just walk because they might not be able to walk that far."

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• Neighbours throw dog poo on homeowner's walls amid row over blocked footpath - but he claims it's HIS land
• Neighbour row gets out of hand as pensioners end up in fist fight over shared driveway
• Homeowner fuming as low-flying planes are 'ruining' his £3m mansion

Brighton & Hove City Council has now confirmed it is a public footpath with a legal order - meaning work can start to reopen it.

Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport, parking and the public realm, said an engineer visited the site last week.

He added that their report is expected "imminently".

Muten explained that following the report, the council could then submit a notice allowing it to remove unsafe sections of the wall and the path can be reopened.

"We have contractors ready to do the necessary work as soon as the notice has been submitted," Muten said.

"We’re continuing to remove any notices on our highways which claim this is private property. It is not."

He added: "I want to reassure residents everything is being done to get the footpath reopened quickly and I’m confident this can be done very soon."