Residents in a row of Victorian terraces are locked in a bizarre legal battle with a neighbour after she is said to have barricaded a communal walkway with a garden trellis.
The waist-high lattice fence blocked the path for 14 residents who claim they routinely use it to access the rear of their properties.
The communal path runs at the back of the terraced cottages in Evesham, Worcestershire, allowing residents to have easy access to their homes.
Many elderly people in the neighbourhood claim they prefer using the walkway near their homes to avoid going down steep steps at the front of the houses which were built 150 years ago.
Police were called last month when resident Julia Hartley is said to have erected the 4ft-high trellis fence along with a sign with read, "Private 14-8".
It has now mysteriously been torn down and dumped on the path but ten residents are reportedly preparing to go to court to ban any fencing being put up in future.
Joanne Kitchen is one of ten residents to contact a solicitor in a bid to reportedly stop Ms Hartley, 53, from blocking the walkway again.
Ms Kitchen, 45, claimed: "For us to go out now we have to go up steps. If someone in a wheelchair or even the emergency services needed access they could not get through.
"For the people who live here, it is the quickest route towards town and we now have to go all the way around. It is a right of way on all our deeds.
"It is all getting a bit contentious and it has made things really horrible.
"I have only lived here for four years, some of the people have been here for 20, 30 years."
The houses are said to. be 150 years old and are old gasworks cottages.
Neighbours claim the right of way has been there for a similar period.
Ms Kitchen added: "She (Ms Hartley) tells us she has been here for 30 years so why this is suddenly a problem now I'm not sure.
"We think she just does not want people walking past her home but she doesn't have a choice.
"Because of how close the homes are, we all know each other and during lockdown, everyone helped everyone, we would play a bit of music and have some socially-distant dancing in the mornings.
"There is one elderly neighbour who does not come out to join us so much now, she can't get through and doesn't like the idea of walking all the way around."
Holly Edwards added: "I've lived here for more than 30 years and this path is a feature of this road, not an inconvenience.
"During lockdown, my friend at number five, on the opposite side of this fence, was a real lifesaver so this makes it a bit more personal for me."
Another neighbour Hannah Owen said: "It feels like bullying, my little girls keep saying they just want things to get back to normal. We find it very sad."
West Mercia Police said: "At around 8pm on June 25 we were called to reports of a neighbour dispute over access at Common Road, Evesham.
"This is a civil matter however, our Safer Neighbourhood Team is engaging with all parties."
Ms Hartley declined to comment.
