A CONTROVERSIAL mystery fence which blocked a footpath was torn down just hours later and sparked a neighbour row.
Residents of Harleston, Norfolk were left baffled when the 6ft barrier was put up at around 5pm on June 6, blocking access to the public right of way in Tudor Rose Way.
The path is used as a shortcut by hundreds of locals, many of whom shared their anger over the sudden and unexplained obstacle which blocked their way home.
But their anger was abated when, according to a witness, the fence was torn down by a mysterious bandit with a claw hammer just hours after it was erected.
One resident who lives nearby says she wrongly bore the brunt of some of the local ire and was called a "fascist" by a shouting man, who presumably blamed her after the fence went up.
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The mystery over its sudden appearance was solved when housing association Hastoe Housing admitted erecting it at the request of some residents to try and curb “loitering and anti-social behaviour”.
The fence, which blocked access into a large car park, was up for less than five hours before being smashed down.
Norfolk County Council bosses agreed that it should never have been built in the first place, meaning it will not be replaced.
Residents who opposed the fence are still fuming, and have branded it “a joke that shouldn’t have happened”.
Tanning shop owner Noor Hussain, 30, who lives two doors away from the path was outraged when he saw contractors putting the finishing touches to the barrier last week.
He said: “I was walking home from work and was gobsmacked because this fence was right across the path.
“The contractors told me they were doing the job for the housing association at the request of local residents, but everyone I spoke to was against it.
“We have disabled people living in the close who rely on using the path to get to the Co-op and other shops. If the fence had remained, they would have had to go on a ten minute detour around the block.”
Noor was so upset that he set up a petition calling for the fence to be removed.
It quickly raked in more than 100 signatures.
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He said he was in his bedroom overlooking the car park when he saw the fence being smashed down by a mystery man who arrived in the car park in a pick-up truck.
Noor added: “I heard banging and looked out to see this guy going to town on it with a claw hammer. It was hilarious.
"He hammered out all the fence slats so people could climb through and then drove off again.
“Someone called the police, and they arrived with blue lights flashing a few minutes later, and started running up and down the close knocking on doors to try and find out what had happened.
"It was just nuts.
“Personally, I couldn’t be more pleased that the fence has gone. It would have inconvenienced loads of people if it had stayed.
"I just hope that it doesn’t come back again.”
Noor said that he believed the fence had been put up after complaints from a family living near to the opening into the car park, who didn’t like constant streams of people passing beside their house.
But the woman who lives in the house denied to The Sun that she had demanded the fence be put up.
The mother-of-five, who asked not to be named, said: “People have got a vendetta against us. They think it was us who requested the fence, but we didn’t.
“We have had eggs thrown at our house in the past and have had to put up with a lot.
“I do get fed up of people taking a short cut across our front garden instead of sticking to the path, but that is all. We have not got an issue with people walking on the path.
“But when I got out of my car after work and the fence had gone up, this man started shouting at me calling us all fascists.
“I contacted the police because people kept knocking on our door to have a go, thinking it was down to us. It was only a fence. It was not as if someone had died.”
Poultry farm caretaker Joseph Wimshurst, 23, who regularly walks down the path on his way home said he was shocked to see the fence suddenly appear.
He said: “I come this way because it is the easiest way to go and makes my journey a little bit shorter.
“But when I came down here the other day, there was this fence blocking the path and there was a hullaballoo in progress with loads of people standing around.
“I do lots of chin-ups and I am quite fit, so I just climbed over it. I thought it was a stupid thing to build there.
“I was brilliant when it got knocked down. If it had not happened, I would have done it myself.”
Keith Newby, 62, who lives around the corner, said: “I saw the fence blocking the footway when It had gone up. It was just pathetic and ridiculous.
“There are a lot of elderly people around here, and if it had stayed, it would have meant that they faced a ten minute longer walk to the doctor’s surgery.
“I saw it after it came down. There were only the horizontal railings left, so people could climb through. I thought that somebody had been busy.
“It has now been tidied up properly so it is back to normal. I regularly go through there when I go to the shops. The last thing I want is for it to come back.”
A man living only a few yards from the path said: “Kids use the path to walk to school as well as shoppers and people going to and from work. There must be hundreds of people use it every day.
“I have got terminal cancer so my walking is restricted. It is really important for me to be able to walk through there because I cannot walk far.
“When it was blocked, I couldn’t come back from my shopping. We had a letter a couple of weeks before saying the work was going to be done, but I didn’t really understand it.
“I thought they were going to just renew some panels and didn’t realise that they were going to extend the fence right across the path.”
Luthfur Rahman, 36, who owns the Taste of Raj restaurant in Harleston and lives close to the path, said: “I was in London for a couple of days and came back to see the fence had gone up.
“I didn’t like it at all. There are so many people who use the path to get through to the car park and the shops, and they were being blocked.
“The path is very handy, and I think it has been here for around 30 years, and was here even before the houses were built.
“I have not noticed any anti-social behaviour around here. There are sometimes young people making a noise in the car park, but it doesn’t affect us much.”
A shopper who only gave her name as Karen, 67, said: “I saw news about the fence on Facebook, and had to tell my dad because he uses a mobility scooter.
“I thought that if he had to go the long way round to the shops, he might land up with a flat battery. I breathed a sigh of relief when it came down. It is so useful to walk through here.”
Norfolk County Council confirmed that it had taken away the fence remains to allow safe access to the path.
A spokesperson from Norfolk County Council told The Sun: “This link path is an adopted highway and as such should not have been obstructed.
"Working with the town council, we can confirm the fence was removed and the area has been made safe.”
Norfolk Police confirmed officers were called to the scene just before 10pm on Thursday last week after it was reported that the structure had been damaged.
A spokeswoman for the force earlier said that enquiries were “ongoing” following the incident.
A Hastoe Housing spokesman said previoiusly: "The fence has now been removed but was put up at the request of residents in order to prevent loitering and antisocial behaviour in the area.
"We are now liaising with the local council to find an alternative way of managing the problem."
