Residents on Middleton Road in Newark fear future access following shock announcement land to be auctioned at Nottingham Racecourse

Homeowners fear they could be charged a financial toll to get to their own homes as land goes up for auction.

Several parcels of land on Middleton Road in Newark, which provide access to more than 30 properties are due to be auctioned off next month.

The auction will take place at Nottingham Racecourse in August with an asking price of just £3,500 for all seven of the access points.

The land is currently privately owned by Gascoines of Newark, which has put them up for sale after several decades of ownership.

However, this has caused confusion and concern among residents who until now were not aware that these small cul-de-sacs were privately owned and worried that a potential new buyer could begin to charge them for access to their own properties.

Catherine Meehan has lived on the street for almost 30 years and was concerned about the possible impact the sale could have on residents.

She said: “I was under the impression when we bought our house that we were responsible for the drive up to the houses from the pavement.

“But it turns out they’re private and now they’re up for sale.

“Nobody had contacted us. I only heard about it because my daughter sent me the auction link and asked if we knew anything.

“It turn out the land up to the pavement is owned by somebody else and we’ve been here for a good 20 to 30 years.

“I worry that if it is sold off, whoever takes it on could start to charge us ground rent just to access our home, even though we have never had to pay before and we own our house and the land it sits on completely.

“It feels like it’s been sold on the quiet, nobody else on the street has been notified and I just think it is ridiculous.”

Another resident, Doreen Morrison, said: “This came out of nowhere. We have had absolutely no information whatsoever and at the moment we have no idea what the implications are.

“It is concerning but I don’t see how any company can charge us entry to our own properties — they could possible charge for maintenance.

“When we found out that this auction was taking place we thought about us residents getting together and buying.

“But really I don’t think it would work because what would happen if a sinkhole appeared or we got a water leak?

“We’d get into disputes about who would pay for it and it'd be a nightmare.

“Ideally we’d like if the council could take it on and adopt the cul-de-sacs because at the end of the day we pay council tax the same as anybody else and all of the other roads round here are maintained by them.

“It’s just the fact that no one told us what was happening. We have been here for 30 years and we only found out through word of mouth.”

Debbie Darby, who represents the Bridge Ward on Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “When I first heard about it I thought it was bonkers. We have never seen anything like this before and speaking to other people at the council, neither have they.

“I originally thought it only applied to six or seven properties, in fact it’s actually six or seven cul-de-sacs affecting over 30 properties.”

Gascoines declined to comment when contacted by the Advertiser.