A FAILED legal fight has left villagers counting the cost after a parish council was forced to pay thousands of pounds in legal fees to a pub owner.
The dispute began five years ago after planners gave approval to GA Carter Ltd for three homes at the rear of Fernaville’s Rest pub, in Whorlton.
Parish councillors blocked the right of way to the site, claiming it was part of the village green.
This led landowner Gillian Carter taking the matter up in the civil courts.
Solicitors told the council there was a 75 per cent chance of winning in the months leading up to the case. However, days before the court hearing in 2017 a barrister dismissed their chances of winning. The parish council gave up when its insurance company pulled out and solicitors demanded £8,000 up front to go ahead.
Insurers have paid a proportion of the legal fees and parish clerk Alan Dixon confirmed last week that councillors have agreed to pay the remaining balance to the solicitors from parish reserves.
Mr Dixon said the situation was “extremely disappointing” but they had been left with no other option.
He added: “The situation has been going on for some time and they [solicitors] have been very good, but they just couldn’t go on any longer. The insurance company wasn’t responding to them.”
The parish council has not responded to further requests from the Teesdale Mercury about how much was paid out by the parish.
However, it is claimed to be as much as £10,000. One Whorlton resident said: “Per head of population, £10,000 to Whorlton and Westwick people is much more than the £55,000 that Barnard Castle residents have had to pay out over its unfair dismissal case.
“This is not the parish council’s money – it belongs to the residents.”
Landowner Ivan Carter called the parish council’s decision to try to bar access as “bizarre”.
He added: “The access had been established for 200 years for the pub. It was registered as a legal access and that route served as access to other houses.”
He said if the right to access had been removed, it would have resulted in the closure of the pub.
Mr Carter said: “There was about a year and a half where there was a question mark about the pub’s future and we would have ultimately had to close it.
“This would have an impact on the other residents, who I don’t think had a clue.
“I did reassure them that they wouldn’t have their access shut off.
“It was an unsatisfactory situation all around. The total bill we had to pay was £23,000 and we did call in the bailiffs because the council didn’t pay the bill.
“There were unilateral decisions made by the council without any public consultation. We did look at what we could pay as a settlement to bring this to an end but were told ‘no’.”
He confirmed the pub has reverted to its traditional name of The Bridge Inn following the departure of landlord Thomas Magnay two years ago after he was hit with a slump in business due to the closure of Whorlton Bridge.
