Broken wall will not be fixed as dispute between homeowner and council continues

Damage by a 10 foot tree which felled in April, caused £20,000 of damage to the wall at the rear of a home that backs onto Dundonald Park in Wimbledon.

The homeowner’s nephew, Savas Stavrou, said an agreement in his uncle’s deed means the yard of land at the back of his garden in Merton Hall Road, which includes the wall, is actually owned by the council.

He said the ownership was agreed by the council 150 years ago in order to continue to maintain the wall around the park.

But the council said neither the tree nor the wall or the land on which it was built are its property and therefore it is not for the council to use taxpayers’ money to repair it.

A spokesman said the piece of land was not registered with the land registry and should be done so by the homeowner.

Mr Stavrou said: "Our view is simple, we don’t own the land where the wall is and indeed do not have a boundary with the wall and therefore it cannot be our responsibility to rebuild it.

"It is inexplicable that we should be asked by the council to rebuild a wall on land that doesn’t belong to us."

The damage was noticed by Councillor David Dean, who said: "I've been chasing the council for six months to get this wall rebuilt as having bricks lying around in a park is a danger.

"Worse still, the council tried to blame the owner of a house that backs onto the park, telling him he had to fix it immediately.

"When they found out they owned the wall, they went quiet."

Merton Council’s cabinet member for environmental sustainability and regeneration Councillor Andrew Judge said: "As soon as the damage was reported, we made the area safe by taking away the tree and stacking the bricks securely, so, if he wanted, Mr Stavrou could rebuild the wall using the original bricks.

"However, neither the tree nor the wall or the land on which it was built are the property of the council and therefore it is not for the council to use taxpayers’ money to repair it."