[2025] UKUT 110 (LC)

Well Heads, formerly known as Close Head Lane, is a country lane on the west side of Bradford. For most of its length it passes through open farmland but about halfway between Keelham and Thornton a public house and a terrace of cottages stand on the north side of the lane. There are about thirty cottages and a few larger houses between the pub at the eastern end of the hamlet and a stone barn at the western end.

The land with which these proceedings are concerned is on the south side of Well Heads, immediately opposite the row of cottages at its western end. It comprises one of a pair of stone domestic outhouses, a narrow yard between the two buildings and former “Ashes Places” (areas for depositing ash from domestic coal fires) behind the smaller of the two. The outhouses are now dilapidated structures which, together with the Ashes Places, are assumed to have been provided in the past for the convenience of the occupants of the cottages. Their original purpose can be inferred from their names, the Privy and the Washhouse. The whole area is show on the plan below.

Looking at the outhouses from the north side of Well Heads, with one’s back to the cottages, the Washhouse is to the left, and the Privy (with the Ashes Places behind) is the smaller building to the right. The Washhouse is shown edged in red on the plan. It is a single storey stone building, with a window on the north side, and another on the west side. The only entrance to the Washhouse is by a door also on the west side, close to road and facing the Privy. According to Mr Kirkman, the dimensions of the Washhouse are 3.56 metres by 5.01 metres (approximately 11 feet 8 inches by 16 feet 5 inches).

The Privy is shown edged in green on the plan. It is a smaller building, again of stone, about 3.1 metres wide along its frontage to the road and a little more in depth. It has a single window on the north side and is entered through an opening on the eastern side, opposite the entrance to the Washhouse.

The distance between the two buildings is 2.58 metres, or approximately 8 feet 6 inches, only slightly wider than a standard parking space (2.4 metres or approximately 7 feet 10 inches). I will refer to the area between the buildings as the “outside area” to distinguish it from the Ashes Places, which are behind the Privy. The outside area is not separated from the road by any fence or gate and leads only to the entrances to the two buildings and to the Ashes Places. Other than opening on to the road, the whole of the outside area and the Ashes Places are enclosed by the walls of the two buildings and by a 2 metre high stone boundary wall also shown on the plan.