RESIDENTS are locked in a bitter battle with a neighbour after she barricaded a communal walkway with a garden TRELLIS.

The waist-high lattice fence blocked the path for 14 residents who use it daily to access the rear of their Victorian properties.

The communal path runs at the back of the terraced cottages on Common Road, Evesham, Worcs., allowing residents to have easy access to their homes.

Many elderly residents prefer using the walkway to avoid going down steep steps at the front of the houses which were built 150 years ago.

Police were called last month when resident Julia Hartley erected the 4ft-high trellis fence along with a sign with read, "Private 14-8".

It's unclear as to why the fence was put up in the first place – and police say that the matter is being sorted with their neighbourhood team.

The trellis has now mysteriously been torn down and dumped on the path – and ten residents are preparing to go to court to ban any fencing being put up in future.

Joanne Kitchen is one of ten residents to contact a solicitor in a bid to stop Ms Hartley, 53, from blocking the walkway again.

Ms Kitchen, 45, said: "If someone in a wheelchair or even the emergency services needed access they could not get through.

"For the people who live here, it is the quickest route towards town and we now have to go all the way around. It is a right of way on all our deeds.

"The houses are 150 years old, they are the old gasworks cottages so that right of way has been there for just as long.

"Because of how close the homes are, we all know each other and during lockdown, everyone helped everyone, we would play a bit of music and have some socially-distant dancing in the mornings.

"There is one elderly neighbour who does not come out to join us so much now, she can't get through and doesn't like the idea of walking all the way around."

Fellow resident Holly Edwards added: "I've lived here for more than 30 years and this path is a feature of this road, not an inconvenience.

"During lockdown, my friend at number five, on the opposite side of this fence, was a real lifesaver so this makes it a bit more personal for me."

Another neighbour Hannah Owen said: "My little girls keep saying they just want things to get back to normal. We find it very sad."

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West Mercia Police said: "At around 8pm on June 25 we were called to reports of a neighbour dispute over access at Common Road, Evesham.

"This is a civil matter however, our Safer Neighbourhood Team is engaging with all parties."

Ms Hartley declined to comment.

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