A couple living next to a primary school have won a legal victory after enduring nearly 170 footballs kicked into their £2 million property within a single year.
Mohamed and Marie-Anne Bakhty successfully sued Hampshire County Council, claiming their Winchester home became a “no-go area” after Westgate All Through Primary School built a football pitch just two metres from their garden boundary.
Paradise lost
The Bakhtys’ country home, St Anns, was once their peaceful retreat. Property developer Mohamed used to relax in his garden, while his wife Marie-Anne enjoyed tending to her plants as a keen gardener.
That changed dramatically in 2021 when the school transformed a grassy playground into an all-weather football pitch, complete with a green wire fence that did little to contain the constant barrage of stray balls.
“The sports pitch had taken over our life,” the couple told the High Court. Marie-Anne described enduring “continuous, horrendous noise” that caused her significant distress.
A garden under siege
The scale of the problem became clear when Judge Philip Glen visited the property and found 20 footballs scattered across the couple’s flowerbeds. Court documents revealed that 170 balls had landed on their property in less than 12 months.
Mr. Bakhty claimed the school had “deliberately” positioned the pitch to “upset” them, turning their once-idyllic garden into an unusable space.
The court’s decision
Judge Glen ruled that while occasional stray balls might be expected, the “frequent projection” of footballs onto the couple’s property constituted a public nuisance under common law.
The court awarded the Bakhtys £1,000 in damages for the period of “excessive use” of the play area. However, the judge stopped short of granting an injunction to shut down the pitch entirely, which was the couple’s original request.
In his judgement, Judge Glen suggested a straightforward fix: “If a net was erected to prevent balls and other objects from crossing the boundary fence, I cannot necessarily see that there could be any real objection to opening this area up altogether.”
The judge also noted that the school did not appear to intend continuing the nuisance, suggesting the problem could be resolved with proper ball-retention measures.
This case highlights the delicate balance between community facilities and residents’ rights. While school playgrounds serve an important public purpose, they must be designed and managed in ways that don’t unreasonably interfere with neighbouring properties.
For the Bakhtys, the modest £1,000 award represents more than money; it is recognition that their peace and quiet matters, even when weighed against children’s need for recreational space.
The solution seems simple enough: better netting could allow both the school and the homeowners to coexist peacefully, proving that sometimes the most complex legal disputes have surprisingly straightforward fixes.