Helene Margaret Ball v The Derbyshire County Council

Facts

The applicant, Helene Margaret Ball, is the registered proprietor of 10 George Road, Matlock, whose rear garden backs on to a car park owned by Derbyshire County Council. She applied to HM Land Registry, on an application treated as made on 18 April 2024, to register two prescriptive easements over the car park: a right of way on foot, and a right of way with vehicles limited to dropping off and collecting persons and goods. Her husband bought the house in June 1966, and she and he moved in some months before their marriage on 27 March 1967; a gap in the rear wall, later fitted with a gate, gave direct access onto the land, which was laid out as a car park for Matlock College of Education from around 1967 and for the council's staff from around 1988. Her case was that she, her family and their visitors routinely used the car park to reach the house because it was far more convenient than the front route, notwithstanding a front entrance and garage. The council put her to proof and contended that signs at the entrance made any use contentious or permissive. In April 2023 the council placed concrete blocks across the entrance and briefly fenced off the gate. The matter was referred by HM Land Registry to the First-tier Tribunal.