Derbyshire County Council allegedly monitored an 81-year-old woman’s son and tried to prevent him obtaining records while he researched her legal battle over access to her garden, internal emails show.
Helene Ball had spent three years challenging the council after a fence was installed across her garden gate in 2023. The route led to a council-owned car park and had been used by Mrs Ball and her family for almost six decades.
After the gate was removed, 54 large Lego-style concrete blocks were placed outside her home in Matlock. The council said they were intended to reinstate access, but Mrs Ball said their arrival caused her further distress.
Emails sent during the access dispute
Mrs Ball’s son, David Ball, had been gathering information on her behalf, including records relating to signage at the car park. Emails released following a data subject access request appear to show council staff were instructed to limit his access to information.
Allen Shepherd, the council’s head of estates, corporate property, corporate services and transformation, wrote to the corporate records manager: “We are currently in litigation with Helena Ball [sic] and her son David Ball is acting on her behalf.”
He added: “The Council are not obligated to provide any of this information, therefore please can I ask you desist from providing any further information as it could well work against us.”
Mr Shepherd also asked for copies of Mr Ball’s requests and details of information already supplied, as well as the fees incurred by the records office.
In another email, he wrote: “Just to reiterate please can you end all dialogue with David Ball RE signage as this would not be documented in the deeds etc.”
Further correspondence appears to show staff recording Mr Ball’s visits to the council’s record office, including the dates he attended and the material he had consulted. One email asked when he had viewed a particular record so that staff could check whether he had held a photography licence.
Mr Ball said he felt physically ill after receiving the material through his data request. “When I received the Subject Access Request material and realised they had been tracking my visits, sharing my emails, and accessing my private information, my stomach sank – I felt physically sick,” he said.
He added: “Allen Shepherd was the very council officer who instructed colleagues to block my mother’s gate in 2023, and he was now directing colleagues to stop providing me information because it could undermine the council’s case.”
“This is Derbyshire, not North Korea. No resident should ever find themselves being monitored by their own council for simply asking questions,” he said.
Mrs Ball argued that her long-standing use of the route had created a legal right of access. A judge ruled in her favour, ordering that the access be added to the land deed and that the council pay costs of about £50,000.
The court also ordered the council to ensure that her pedestrian and vehicle access was not obstructed again. In his ruling, Judge Robert Brown criticised Mr Shepherd as “surprisingly combative”, saying his evidence consisted of “unsubstantiated assertions”.
The judge also described one of Mr Shepherd’s responses as “totally irrelevant” and “most unhelpful”.
Derbyshire County Council, which has been led by Reform UK since the party won 42 of the 64 seats last May, said Mr Ball had made several visits to the record office and had been given the information he requested.
A council spokesman said: “We are sorry that Mr Ball feels he was under surveillance.”
He added: “Attendance at the Record Office is recorded as part of standard procedures to ensure the security of records and the appropriate management of access to archive materials.
“These arrangements apply to all visitors and are not specific to Mr Ball.”
