Residents baffled after 100m access road is sold for just £1

Homeowners fear they will soon be forced to pay to use a vital access lane running behind their properties after it was bought by a mystery buyer for just £1.

The 3m-wide lane, which runs at the rear of a stretch of properties in Wootton Bassett Road, Swindon, Wiltshire, was purchased recently through an estate agent in the town.

With no certainty over who paid the fee. locals say they are worried that whoever has bought the 105m-long access lane might start charging them to use it.

They say the lane is crucial for them as there is no parking on the main road in front of their houses and many own garages at the back of their homes.

Retired nurse Kim, 67, has lived in the same house in Wootton Bassett Road for 43 years and she and her husband Derek, 72, have always parked their cars in the access lane at the rear of their three-bedroom terraced home.

But now the couple fear the new owner of the lane could make their lives a financial misery.

Kim said: 'We have no idea who the new owner is or what their intentions are.

'For all we know, they might be planning to charge us every time we use it, or make us pay an annual fee.

'No one in their right mind would want to own an access lane with all the hassle and expense of maintaining it unless they could make money from it.'

The couple, like other residents in the street, have carried out numerous searches on the government-run Land Registry website to try and find out who has bought the access lane but no details have yet been filed.

It was sold by the previous owner – a member of a family that owns land throughout Wiltshire – just weeks ago.

Derek, a retired BT engineer, said: 'It is all a total mystery.

'All we know is it's been bought for £1.

'No one is telling us anything. We've tried asking the estate agents and they say the purchase details are confidential. It is very frustrating.

'We just want to discuss the situation with the new owner and seek reassurance that there are no plans to charge us to park behind our homes. We use this access lane all the time with the cars.

'You cannot park on the main road in front of our house because it is too busy with traffic, but this is perfect because it's safe and we can unload our shopping, our groceries and the like, and take it in through the back door.

'I've also got a garage, which is extremely useful.'

Kim said: 'For as long as I've lived here, the access lane has been maintained by the local council and it's in a pretty good state, although there are a few potholes.

'But maybe the new owner will want us all to chip in for any repairs and that will cost a small fortune. No one would want to buy this lane, then have to spend tens of thousands of pounds repairing the surface.'

Another resident, David, 32, said: 'It is a crazy situation when such a vital laneway can be purchased, yet no one knows who the new owner is.

'Maybe it's someone in the tarmac business and they want us all to pay them to resurface it? It has not been a very transparent process, in my opinion.

'Whoever owns it, I hope they reveal themselves soon and let us know what their plans are for it because we are all very worried and it is keeping us awake at night.

'We just want some reassurance and transparency. We need to know where we stand.

Local, Jenny, 58, said she was 'worried sick' by the recent development.

She said: 'We've been checking our deeds and we do have the right in perpetuity to use the access lane, but it does not specifically say we can never be charged for that right, so yes, I am extremely anxious about what the new owner's intentions are.

'It seems bizarre that someone would want to own it with all the potential expenses involved of maintenance, and not have plans to make us contribute towards those costs.'