ChD 15 December 2006. A local authority claimed ownership over a strip of land adjacent to a highway and had sought payment from the defendant property owner in return for a permanent right of access to the highway. The issue raised was whether the council was entitled to charge the defendant for licence to cross a ransom strip they had built along the southern boundary of his property and whether the ransom strip could be considered part of the highway. "Held": it was decided that the defendant had complied with all the planning conditions set by the local authority and that, as both parties had behaved as if the defendant had a right of way over the new crossover in place of its old right of way he could therefore reasonably expect that there would be a new permanent and safe access in substitution for the old without additional payment other than the local authority's costs, which had been paid. The claim was therefore dismissed.