Row erupts over blocked Coundon alleyway

Dog walkers and members of a Coventry social club are angry after a popular thoroughfare was blocked off with padlocked metal gates.


Robin Wood is pictured centre with others concerned about what has happened.

The alleyway in Shorncliffe Road has been used by generations of people exercising their pets on Coundon Wedge and those visiting Coundon Social Club.

But people in several neighbouring houses have put up spiked security gates without warning after complaining of long-running anti-social behaviour from some of the people who use the path.

An alternative entrance to the fields and the social club is available further down the road, but some residents are concerned because they say there’s no footpath and it’s poorly lit.

Robin Wood, of Coundon Social Club, which has appointed a solicitor to investigate who owns the path, said: “People have used the access since the 1940s and took it as a natural right of way. At least 65 per cent of our members are 50 or over.

“When they have played bingo or had a drink they now have to walk down the road. Imagine what it’s like when it’s dark or raining?”

Mr Wood admitted there had been “some issues” in the alleyway with late-night noise and with pupils walking to and from Coundon Court School.

Ward councillor Gary Ridley (Con, Sherbourne) claimed there was no warning the gates were going up.

“Part of the problem is that this has just dropped out of the sky,” he said.

“If people are suffering anti-social behaviour there are processes which can be gone through. Taking a unilateral decision and closing off access is very concerning.”

And Joan Spencer, secretary of Brooklands Residents Association, said: “We have received complaints because dog walkers who have come this way for years cannot access the Wedge.”

But one of the residents who put the gates up said: “This is not something that’s just happened over a few weeks or months – anti-social behaviour has been going on for many years. This is not a vendetta against the club.”

Council distances itself from Coundon Social Club dispute

COVENTRY City Council has distanced itself from a row over access to a social club.

The authority says the dispute between Coundon Social Club and some of its neighbours is a “private matter”.

But it says it will act as an impartial mediator to try and help the warring parties reach an agreement.

The row relates to an alley in Shorncliffe Road which leads to the club and Coundon Wedge.

Some residents put up gates without permission to stop alleged antisocial behaviour along the path, but club members and dog walkers say the alley has been a right of way since the 1940s.

An alternative access to the club and Coundon Wedge is available down the road.