A brother and sister are at war with their local council after erecting an illegal fence through an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Urusa Ahmed and her brother Syed triggered a dispute in July 2021 when, without planning permission, they erected a fence around their two acre woodland plot that blocked public footpaths.
The pair went on to illegally install large security gates and have erected several structures, including a large dwelling-type building with windows and a livestock shed, at the woodland site they own near Chesham, Bucks.
One local, who did not wish to be named, told : ‘I was out walking one day and saw these fences and trespass warning signs, I couldn’t believe it.’
After missing Buckinghamshire Council’s order to take the fence down by November 2022 , the case was upgraded to ‘a criminal offence’.
But the dispute has boiled over in recent months as locals, furious at what they claim is council inaction over the saga, have taken the law into their own hands and smashed large sections of the fence down.
The attacks came to a head on Tuesday when police were called in after two men armed with a sledgehammer were caught hacking down the fence.
The fury have seen Urusa, who lives 35 minutes away in Taplow, Bucks, install CCTV cameras which shout ‘keep out’ to passers-by.
While an array of signs warning not to trespass and ‘don’t be a criminal’ also feature, and another – since removed – warned the public the area was a ‘shooting range’, despite the family keeping goats and sheep on the land.
Urusa told : ‘Everybody has the right, it is a human right, to fence off your land, especially when people are trespassing.
‘The land is like everywhere else! There is a sheep farm next to it, it has fences, the farm behind us has fences, opposite us has fences, next to us has fences.
‘Now tell me one good reason why the council will not allow us to have fences? What’s the difference between us and the rest of the people here?
‘Why can’t people have livestock in agricultural land, and if you have livestock, how can you expect us to protect them.
‘There are men coming in with dogs, big dogs, deliberately trying to intimidate me.’
The Ahmeds purchased four of sixteen plots in July 2003 for around £20,000 each from a firm called Land For Investment, based in Ealing, West London.
For years, the Ahmeds did nothing with the land but in 2021 Syed submitted an application to build a Kimchi farm on a section of the plot.
Plans showed how he wanted to use the land for growing Chinese cabbage to supply to supermarkets, with a large barn, the size of a five bedroom house, used to store farming equipment and process Kimchi – a fermented vegetable dish popular in Korea.
The plans triggered dozens of objections who expressed concern over the true nature of the project, given the impractical location for a commercial unit at the top of a steep hill off a narrow lane.
The move was branded a ‘ruse’ to build a large family home – which would boast stunning views over the Chilterns – via backdoor planning loopholes.
‘To illustrate how dishonest they are, on the plan that was submitted [for the barn], it included plots 15 and 16 which they didn’t own, they own plot 14’, one resident said.
They added: ‘They [the Ahmeds] are constantly deceiving and lying.
‘She claims she’s a farmer and being stopped from farming, she’s not a farmer. If you were a farmer you wouldn’t take sheep or goats in to those plots, there’s nothing for them to eat.
‘They are quite deliberately ignoring the rules and regulations.’
Urusa disagreed, hitting back: ‘Why can’t we protect our land, why do these people think they have a god given right to walk through our land and claim it as their land.
‘I am trying to keep this place as natural as possible, for me, this is where animals should be. Eventually it [the livestock] will be a business opportunity.’
Urusa claims she and young people she brought to the woodland for activities were racially abused by locals.
But this is fiercely denied by residents who say they have never seen any young people at the site and that it is not even equipped to host youngsters, with no water source or evidence of sanitation.
Despite the ongoing disputes, one passer-by said the Urusa ‘was always polite’.
The Ahmeds launched a retrospective planning application for the fence in July but this was thrown out by Buckingamshire Council. They have until January 1 to remove the fence unless an appeal is lodged against it in the meantime.
Peter Strachan, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, said: ‘In August 2024, we issued a planning enforcement notice requiring the removal of unauthorised development at this site.
‘That notice is required to be complied with by 1 January 2025, unless an appeal is lodged against it in the meantime. A copy of that notice can be found on our website.
‘The application submitted under PL/24/1965/FA will be progressed to determination in the meantime, and we will consider the implications dependant on the outcome of that application.’
On the police incident, a spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said: ‘We attended an incident of criminal damage on Pednor Road, Chesham yesterday (17/9). We are liaising with the council over the matter.’