Image: The Telegraph
However, the case continued, and the ultimate tribunal hearing took place, under the council’s subsequent Reform UK leadership, meaning the dispute spanned a change in political control at the authority before Ball finally secured her costs award and confirmed right of way.
Ball said the council did everything it could to bully her throughout the process, adding that after dealing with bullies at school as a teacher, she found herself being bullied again as a pensioner. She said the council tried to put her off pursuing the case, but that it had “messed with the wrong ones. Reflecting on the ordeal, Ball said the dispute brought her more than three years of stress, but that she and her supporters had ultimately proven the council had blocked her rights.
In the tribunal ruling, Judge Robert Brown noted that some evidence presented by the council was “surprisingly combative. The fence’s installation and the legal battle that followed began under the former Conservative administration at Derbyshire County Council.