Worthing business clean-up row

They pulled up outside his business, at the junction of Rowlands Road and Milton Road, Worthing, and started removing the “offending” black and white paint with a high pressure water spray.

First the workmen took down a white picket fence which Mr John had put up to stake his claim on the land, which measures about 12ft by 4ft.

Then a contractor switched on the spray to blast the strip, in Milton Road, and was enveloped by a cloud of water vapour.

He made slow progress but, gradually, slogans stating “Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools”, and “Private Property” began to disappear.

Mr John, who runs a chain of salons in the town centre, said: “I am being victimised. It’s a waste of public money.

“I went out there and said it’s my land, privately maintained by me. There is no dispute about that, it’s 100 per cent certain.

“But West Sussex County Council is saying it’s a public highway, even though it leads into a brick wall.

“They have taken down the fence and won’t give it back. Now, they are apparently going to charge me for the eight people sent down to remove the paint, which they say is graffiti.”

The land dispute started about two years ago when Mr John received a ticket for parking his motorbike on the strip.

Mr John said it led to the borough council drawing up a document of almost 200 pages, followed by court action, which, he added, resolved that the land was his.

Mr John said: “This must have cost taxpayers thousands of pounds.”

Mr John said he now planned to put up on the land a 6ft tall Christmas tree, for St Barnabas House hospice, Worthing.

West Sussex County Council said: “We did carry out enforcement action in order to remove a barrier and paintwork that had been placed on the public footway outside these premises which incorrectly indicated that it was a private area.

“Despite our best and exhaustive efforts to explain the public highway status of his land, Mr John has been unable to accept the public’s right of access over it and the highway authority’s responsibility to ensure that this is so.

“In an attempt to reach a mutually agreeable compromise, the county council did offer to allow a portion of the footway to the south of his shop window to be stopped up.

“This would have removed the public highway status from this length of footway so that Mr John could park his motorcycle on it, while preserving the highway status over the part of footway closest to Rowlands Road, so that pedestrian and road user safety could be assured.

“This offer was rejected.

“Mr John’s decision not to comply with the notice that was given to him on October 20 left us with no alternative but to arrange for the fence and paintwork to be removed by our contractors and recover the full costs of doing so from him.”