The wall is just two bricks high, but Roger says his dad built it and he won’t let it go
A bitter property dispute has escalated to extraordinary lengths, with a local landowner revealing he has spent nearly £18,000 on private security guards to protect a two-brick-high wall from being demolished by housing developers.
Roger White, 59, has been paying a security firm £150 per day since February to maintain a constant watch over the 52-year-old “dwarf wall”. The structure sits adjacent to a new 70-home development managed by Lioncourt Homes, which seeks to clear the area to establish a mandatory emergency access route.
The dispute hinges on conflicting historical property deeds, Gloucestershire Live reports.
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Lioncourt Homes claims to hold documentation from 1964 proving ownership of the boundary. But Mr White also possesses deeds from 1971, alongside Land Registry records, which he asserts prove the land in Hempsted, Gloucestershire, belongs to his family.
The micro-plot was valued at £10,000 in 2017. The wall holds deep sentimental value for Mr White, who inherited it in 1997 from his late father, Ernie White, a well-known local estate agent.
According to Mr White, his father intentionally acquired a series of strategic “ransom strips” – small parcels of land with potential future development leverage – and instructed his son to safeguard them.
“My dad left me this dwarf wall for a reason,” Mr White said, noting that the ongoing stand-off has dominated his life for over a year. “When you believe in something, and it’s because of something your dad left you, that’s why I fought so hard for it.”
The legal landscape surrounding the tiny barrier remains complex. Lioncourt Homes maintains that it has already met its planning obligations and installed a fence and gate using land it fully owns or that falls within the public highway, rendering third-party land unnecessary.
Gloucestershire County Council has backed the developer’s positioning, stating that the legal boundary directly adjoins the public road.
A council spokesperson clarified: “Legal boundaries have no physical width… and the highway status takes precedence over whoever owns the ground beneath it.”
Despite the council’s stance, Mr White argues the developer cannot lawfully comply with the planning requirements without utilising his land. However, after a year of gridlock and a cease-and-desist letter from the developer accusing him of seeking an unjustified ransom, a breakthrough may be on the horizon.
Mr White confirmed he has finally entered formal talks with Lioncourt Homes.
While private security remains stationed at the site for Mr White’s “peace of mind”, he expressed optimism about reaching an amicable resolution.
Under a proposed ideal outcome, Mr White hopes to sell the land rights but carefully dismantle the bricks themselves, intending to reconstruct the wall at his own home as a permanent tribute to his father.
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