Etopia Eastry Limited v Kent County Council

Facts

The claimant, Etopia Eastry Limited, has since 6 September 2021 been the registered proprietor of freehold land lying to the west of Gore Lane, a public highway running to the west of Eastry Church of England Primary School at Cooks Lea, Eastry, near Sandwich in Kent. The dispute concerned a narrow strip of land between the north-western edge of Gore Lane and the remainder of the claimant's registered title, comprising mainly grass, low-lying hedges and brambles, with a bank and a mature oak tree in its north-eastern part. Gore Lane is itself unregistered and appears to have been dedicated as a highway long before the conveyances in question; the defendant, Kent County Council, is the highway authority and owner of the surface of the highway, and does not claim the strip. The claimant sought declarations as to the position of its boundary and an order altering the register to show its title extending up to the highway, relying on a conveyance of 6 November 1941 of Wells Farm and the subsequent conveyancing history down to its own transfer. The council nonetheless filed a defence saying it was not satisfied the claimant was entitled to the orders sought. Following correspondence with the court, the Master directed on 24 July 2026 that the claim be tried without the defendant's participation, and the trial was heard accordingly.