Stand-off as battle lines are drawn over village car park

But it has caused deep ructions in an East Riding village with residents doing battle with builders over access.

Yesterday, police were called as a group of villagers barricaded the entrance to their private car park in Cottingham, near Hull, to stop lorries getting access to a building site which is on the other side of the yard.

It came after workers dug up bollards to get heavy equipment onto the site, off King Street in the village, and on Saturday demolished part of an early Victorian boundary wall.

Residents claim their rights have been bulldozed over.

Police say the situation is getting “out of hand” and are investigating claims that bollards have been criminally damaged.

They are also looking into counter-claims that a construction worker was assaulted and locks to the gates on the other side of the yard have been superglued shut.

Resident Maria Rozenbroek has been trying to stop construction traffic getting onto the site via the car park.

Miss Rozenbroek and other local residents and businesses are leaseholders of the car park, which is owned by East Riding Council.

She said: “It’s the case of the little man against the big man.

“I don’t have a lot of money and I’m responsible for the car park as well as the others in the management team.

“If the surface or the drains gets damaged I am responsible.

“They are just coming in with their big wagons thinking they can do what they want.”

Another resident, who didn’t want to be named, said: “They tried to buy access from us.

“They also tried to buy a neighbour’s bungalow to demolish that and get access, but we all said no. It’s just bully-boy tactics.”

Residents said that they were not informed of an appeal decision granting planning permission for four flats on the adjacent land.

But they claim that one of the conditions on the appeal decision states that the developers’ plans should be used.

And these say that there will be no access to the construction site via the car park.

The only other way onto the site is via an archway, which will allow cars through but not large lorries.

Fellow councillor Geraldine Mathieson used to sit on the East Riding Council’s planning committee. She is also a member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.

She said: “It looks like a clear breach of planning; what is on the drawings has always been considered as part of the permission.

“I am disappointed that the enforcement people are so far refusing to take action.”

She added: “They might own the wall, but this does not mean they are free to do what they like with it. On the plans it says the wall is to be retained; which is not the same as it being taken down and rebuilt.”

Cottingham North councillor Ros Jump, who put her new car across the entrance to stop the builders from getting in, said: “The obvious point of access is through a car park which belongs to the East Riding Council, but which has been leased to residents on a 120-year lease.

“Legal access should be given by the leaseholders.

“They have knocked through a wall in a conservation area which is pre-1850.

“My understanding is that the wall has to be retained because of its age.”

Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Steve Morley, from Humberside Police, said the access from the car park on to the construction site was a “civil matter”.

He added: “It is getting a little bit muddied and out of hand and I am trying to defuse the situation. Some people’s behaviours and attitudes aren’t helping matters.

“There have been allegations that have been made by the construction workers that every morning they have turned up to the construction site and the locks have been superglued.

“Also, when they closed the gates and tied them, someone has been and pushed over a Portaloo and emptied the contents over the construction site.”

Tony Ralph, from CJW Maintenance, which is carrying out the construction work, declined to comment, adding: “My client, who we are building the project for, has solicitors on the case.” The residents’ claims were put to the other company involved, East Yorkshire developers Brantingham Developments, but they declined to comment.

East Riding Council said it was a matter between the residents and the developers.

“Although there is a note on plans submitted with the planning application that the developer did not intend to access the site from an adjacent car park during construction, the planning consent granted on appeal cannot be used to enforce this,” it said.

“Therefore this dispute over the use of the adjacent private car park is a matter between the developer and the private owners.”

And things are usually so quiet..

COTTINGHAM proudly claims to be the country’s largest village, recording over 17,000 inhabitants at the time of the last census in 2001.

The village is where one of England’s best loved poets Philip Larkin, who worked for many years as Hull University’s librarian, was buried.

It has been home to leading lights including the actor Brian Rix, who was born in the village in 1924, the journalist and novelist Winifred Holtby (1898-1935) and the stage and television playwright Alan Plater.

The university’s largest site in Cottingham, The Lawns student accommodation on Harland Way, plays host to an industry closely associated with the region - caravan manufacture.

Every year it hosts a Caravan Extravaganza, featuring many of the area’s leading manufacturers, including caravan-maker the Swift Group.

Castle Hill Hospital, on the outskirts of the village, is now one of the region’s most important hospitals, and includes the recently built Queens Centre for Oncology and Haematology.