To not sign this petition? Diagram included

[Whatnowthenfordone]

I live in a small cul-de-sac and my garden gate opens just as a small pedestrian cut turns into the street’s pavement and road. Numbers 1-4 on the diagram are two bedroom terraces, 12 & 13 are 4 bed semis, and the rest are bungalows. The shop is a very small Tesco Express. The green is the pedestrianised cut.

The couple from the bungalow at number 10 have launched a petition to stop access through the cut. I got a letter yesterday from them asking me to sign the petition and have already knocked twice today (waking me up the first time and was making lunch the second time so I haven’t spoken to them).

I don’t want access stopped. I like walking to the shop and elsewhere via the cut and see no reason to have to walk the long way around. On the very rare occasion you might get teenagers going to the shop on their way home who sit on the wall in the cut for a little bit, but not often. I’ve never had any trouble from the cut in the five years I’ve lived here.

But the neighbour said in the letter that the whole street has signed it but me. WIBU to refuse? I really don’t want to have bad blood with the neighbours but given Im one of the two houses which actually fronts onto the cut and don’t have a problem I can’t see what their issue is. WIBU to just hide from her and hope the Council takes no notice of any petition?

The council probably won’t do anything, and if they do it will take years.
I grew up living at the top of a road that lead to a wooded area with a walking trail. As there was no where to dispose of dog poo the bags we left hanging on our hedge. There was no street parking, so when the car park at the bottom of the road was full our driveway was often blocked. My parents complained to the council so many times asking to have cars towed and to put a bin for the dog poo but was ignored, so we had to deal with it on our own.

It looks like a tragic case of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face! Without the shortcut, you will ALL have a longer walk to the shop - inconveniencing everyone for the sake of what? Just to discourage non-residents from passing through your little estate? How often does that happen, anyway?!

It's obvious that, if the shortcut were being used to impair the rural peace and tranquillity of your neighbourhood, you and your neighbours at No. 1 would be the first to know. Have you bedecked the cut with fairy lights, installed speakers and invited the local 'spice' dealers to bring all their mates down?

I would be tempted to get in first with an email to my councillor and also to share this bonkers plan with the shop owner so they can do the same.
Heartily agree with @MyFlightWasAwfulThanksForAsking.

In your original post you said you'd lived there 5 years but in this post you say you're quite new to the area???
I was reading through wondering why you couldn't just have an open and honest discussion with them as 5 years is a pretty good length of time to be neighbours etc

I'm amazed the council agreed to put double yellow lines in just because a few people wanted them! Is someone friends with somebody on the council?!

Five years is very new to this area. Everyone else has been here decades with their families having been here for generations. It feels very much like we are new.

Ask the planners if this is a right of way
It can’t be removed if it is. ( without great difficulty anyway )

I agree with you OP, why remove it. More importantly why is your neighbour trying to pressure you into signing, is this how they’ve garnered other signatures. Why not ask your other neighbours how they really feel.

Drop the council planners an email saying you don’t want it removed

No the council wouldn’t agree unless all neighbours agreed.
Although tbh I find that very weird in itself. These property owners won’t be there forever, but the lines will.

Remember in Scotland everyone has the right to roam anywhere they damm well choose - including over private Land with the exception of enclosed gardens or crop fields grown for food, so i doubt this petition will go anywhere

I cant understand the comments about your diagram. Its completely clear to me. I live in a similar situation with a cut through. It doesnt lead directly to a shop but is a shortcut to loads of places. I wouldnt want it blocking off.

I didn't know that! How excellent. I wish the English law was more straightforward - I live amongst lovely countryside, almost all of which is fenced off. Also, the many shortcuts and alleyways in my town (it's very old) are being closed off one by one, and nobody seems able to do anything to restore public access.

Depends how long the cut through has been there.

My parents neighbours wanted to do something similar to a jitty next to their bungalow in a cul de sac (not Scotland!). Their bungalow had been there 30 years at the time and the cut through has been used for at least another 60 before that. It was classed a public right of way as it has been used for so many years so no chance of closing it. The councils response boiled down to "you knew it was there when you bought the house, its been there since before you took your first breath so get used to it or move".

Maybe worth doing a bit of research as to how long it has been there. The phrase "Lived here for decades" suggests that closing the cut through may not be qute as simple as they think it is if its been there as long as they have.

@Whatnowthenfordone Note to OP! complaints have arisen due to the sketch of said housing. please return to school and study harder for higher art! (I understood your drawing immediately) Some people might prefer said sketch to be done by a member of the RSA!!

I'm another who understood your diagram perfectly well. This is MN, not a bloody A-level art class!

I can only think that no.10 don't want undesirables or anyone---- parking in their little cul de sac and cutting through. Is this generally an issue? If most residents have been there for decades, what's the recent change in circumstances that makes them want the cut closed off now?

You'll have to speak to them and see if they know something that you don't but I'd also make it clear that you won't be signing if there's not a very valid reason.

Even if the council did just agree to close it off, people are very reluctant to just accept it and give up a longstanding convenience.

Often, alleyways and cut-throughs originated as a result of lots of people making an informal shortcut through there, so it was just making it 'official' and safe.

Once people are well used to it being there, many won't have the mindset that it's gone and simply no longer available; they'll just see it that the council have put a fence in that you now have to climb over or similar

It's less safe (and more suitable) for people getting up to stuff - loitering, doing drugs, having sex, having a poo - if there's no regular use from people walking freely through.

At 'best', if there's a bit of council land that is fenced off and unused, people will tend to find a use for it and may start slinging copious quantities of rubbish over there before long.

@Whatnowthenfordone there is a huge carpark in front of the shop so cant see many shoppers using the cul de sac to park in. it is a really handy path for the residents to get quick access to the shop.

I’ve suspected this. They said a flat no at first, but relented recently. I suspect they’ve agreed to shut her up. She’s completely obsessed with the parking situation and I’m sure she contacts them every single time someone parks on the close.

the neighbour said in the letter that the whole street has signed it but me
Bet they said that to everyone!
Go with your conscience, OP

What would she have said if the residents of the parallel streets had wanted the same?!

We have a bloke like this on our street. He's very well known to the council for his constant ridiculous complaints. He basically thinks that anything he personally doesn't like must be illegal - including people parking anywhere within 100 yards of his house where it doesn't affect him one bit.

He reminds me of the people on here who feel the need to go on to every clearly-titled thread that doesn't interest them and tell everybody on the thread who is interested that they shouldn't be discussing it either.

He also once demanded the council send out a large lorry to clear 'tons of fly-tipped waste blocking the pavement outside his property'. The lorry and multiple council workers arrived to find an empty Coke can and a fish and chip wrapper that had been pushed into his hedge - annoying, of course, but a 1-minute job to remove and stick in your bin.