AIBU to take over a piece of land I don't own to expand my vegetable garden?

[azazello]

I live in a small close with 6 houses. There is a reasonably sized (approx 12m square) piece of land opposite my house and one of my neighbours. This land is owned by the people who lived in my house 25 years ago in the hopes of getting planning permission for development on it.

Over the last 25 years they have made 3 applications for planning permission and all have been turned down flat. It is incredibly unlikely that they will get planning permission (listed buildings nearby which it would impact, protected trees in the site, private road with no access to the main road, no access to public sewer etc) but at the moment the land is just being wasted completely - it is basically a bed of nettles and brambles inhabited by rats.

I was chatting to my neighbour today about what a shame it was and we were discussing whether we should clear it to make the road look better and came up with the idea of clearing it and turning it into a vegetable garden for people in the road - not otherwise to change it in any way . WIBU to do this?

I'd go for it without asking the owner.When you've been tending it for 10 years you could claim it as yours!

Land/houses/property is only worth what people are prepared to pay for it. So their line about "development value" is rather meaningless. I prob would leave it alone unless I could gain their permission to farm first. I couldnt bear getting attached to the land farming it and them coming a long and not seeing the good that had been done. Which is what I think might happen here.

I think the trouble is that they don't have to sell. The owner lived in London and we are near Oxford and they don't visit. They can just let the land get more and more overgrown which seems a real shame when food prices are going up people might actually benefit from some cheap veg.

I guess the other option and probably less time-consuming although also less satisfying is to make life more difficult for them e.g ask them to get the trees seen to as they could do a lot of damage to occupied houses if they shed branches or even fall or complain about the rats which live on the land.
I doubt they have insurance to cover the costs of any damage to neighbouring property so that could encourage them to sell.