What to do with this bit of land

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

NotAGolf

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I hopped over the boundary fence at the end of my garden (on the left in the pic). I cleared it to stop the brambles growing through into my garden, but leaving it barren like this feels like a bit of waste. It's about 2m deep and ~12m long.

It backs onto a footpath, but the path is a further ~10m to the right in the pic, and down a steep hill covered in brambles, so no one apart from my immediate neighbours can see it. It's not my land though, so I can't really build anything on it, and I wouldn't want to spend loads of money on it in case someone kicks off.

I was thinking of planting some wildflowers, or perhaps a little veg patch (or perhaps both), but there's a couple of problems:
  1. The ground is terrible. It's covered in rubble (used to be a railway line) so it's not exactly great soil for planting.
  2. I feel like I might be fighting a losing battle keeping the brambles at bay if I don't put some kind of mesh/fence in.

Any suggestions?


PXL-20250615-155805386.jpg
 
1: Raised beds + decent soil and planted
2: Talk to neighbours and see if jointly they would like to all clear the rear and create better access + make it look more attractive
3: Place a temp fence surrounding the area and leave for required time and claim it (done twice myself)
4: Add a gate to your fence, place a couple of chairs + table there and enjoy access to the old railway line
 
NotAGolf said:
I hopped over the boundary fence at the end of my garden (on the left in the pic). I cleared it to stop the brambles growing through into my garden, but leaving it barren like this feels like a bit of waste. It's about 2m deep and ~12m long.

It backs onto a footpath, but the path is a further ~10m to the right in the pic, and down a steep hill covered in brambles, so no one apart from my immediate neighbours can see it. It's not my land though, so I can't really build anything on it, and I wouldn't want to spend loads of money on it in case someone kicks off.

I was thinking of planting some wildflowers, or perhaps a little veg patch (or perhaps both), but there's a couple of problems:
  1. The ground is terrible. It's covered in rubble (used to be a railway line) so it's not exactly great soil for planting.
  2. I feel like I might be fighting a losing battle keeping the brambles at bay if I don't put some kind of mesh/fence in.

Any suggestions?


PXL-20250615-155805386.jpg
Click to expand...

How much more could you clear before you hit the top of the downhill bank?

I think team up with neighbors, fence it off all the way along the back of all the houses, and claim 2m maybe more of land.
 
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throwaway4372 said:
Heard something similar recently where everyone applied to claim the extra land and we're allowed to just have it. Look into that option.
Click to expand...

It's a long process up to 12yrs.

Adverse Possession UK Claims - Fleet Law

What is adverse possession? This is the process where a person who originally does not own land becomes the legal owner due to his occupation of that land for a period of time. The rules are different if the land is registered as opposed to a claim for adverse possession of unregistered land...
fleetlaw.co.uk fleetlaw.co.uk

Might have to check on the land registry to see if the land is still under the ownership of the original developer / factor if ones employed.

I've seen on various land auctions sites that areas left over from a development go up for sale from time to time. Not for big sums of money but splitting it into individual areas to add onto the plots wouldn't be viable.
 
Participant said:
I'm always amazed when people think others' land is any of their business to interfere with, cut back, live on, etc. This country just doesn't seem to have a culture of respecting land boundaries and ownership.
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Had exactly the same issue, but equally the land owner did not maintain their trees, which should not really be my problem.
 
Participant said:
I'm always amazed when people think others' land is any of their business to interfere with, cut back, live on, etc. This country just doesn't seem to have a culture of respecting land boundaries and ownership.
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That goes both ways. If someone doesn't maintain their land, and instead allow it to fall into a state of disrepair, and encroach upon and have a negative impact upon other peoples' land, then IMO they lose any right to complain about someone not respecting those boundaries when it comes to rectifying that negative impact.
 
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You have the right of redress via the council if the Neighbours aren't keeping their property well maintained, especially in 'conservation' areas.
 
My parents got fined £1000 and told to put things back the way they were when they cleared brambles over their boundary line. They now just do basic maintenance every now and again if things get too overgrown
 
It is important to know who owns the land to evaluate the risk of a fine. Clearly if it is council owned then you may have a problem. In my case I traced it through 5 acquisitions within the house builder industry, and identified the current legal owner (a national builder), who I guarantee were not even aware it was their land as it was a 5m buffer strip.
 
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