Hello,
In this threadmyself and a couple of other posters briefly discuss disused lines that have had people fence them off, and/or where people have extended their garden right upto the edge of the former line.
In some cases, people may have bought land from a railway authority legitimately. Others though may be chancers.
The lack of clarity over the ownership of old railway lines (is it Network Rail, or BRB Residuary/Highways Agency, a local council, sustrans, etc etc) means that it is not at all obvious who to report encroachment to.
This then has the effect that people possess land for 12 years which means (in law) that they can apply for Possessory Title over that land - which means it is essentially theirs, and that if the original owner wants it (to put a railway line down) they need to negotiate a purchase price.
So, my question is to whom can we report encroachment to who will actually care?
In this threadmyself and a couple of other posters briefly discuss disused lines that have had people fence them off, and/or where people have extended their garden right upto the edge of the former line.
In some cases, people may have bought land from a railway authority legitimately. Others though may be chancers.
The lack of clarity over the ownership of old railway lines (is it Network Rail, or BRB Residuary/Highways Agency, a local council, sustrans, etc etc) means that it is not at all obvious who to report encroachment to.
This then has the effect that people possess land for 12 years which means (in law) that they can apply for Possessory Title over that land - which means it is essentially theirs, and that if the original owner wants it (to put a railway line down) they need to negotiate a purchase price.
So, my question is to whom can we report encroachment to who will actually care?