Neighbours in a Basingstoke street feel one family has been unfairly singled out over a fence which slightly encroaches onto council land.

The Bagirathan family was approached by their next-door-neighbour Nick Irvine about replacing an "unsightly and unhygienic" hedge at the back of their homes, in Chineham.

Mr Irvine arranged for a 6ft wooden fence to be built with the Bagirathan paying half of the costs. The fence was built over their boundaries onto a strip of grass, owned by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

While the Bagirathan family say they've been inundated with legal complaints from Basingstoke and Hampshire County Council, Nick admits he hasn't received a single piece of correspondence.

He said he believes the Bagirathan's have been targeted because of their ethnicity.

"I know what it is," Nick said. "It's because of the colour of their skin. I haven't received anything from the council. It seems unfair that they have been targeted when I haven't."

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council said it has written to Nick, though he said he has not received anything from them.

Brindon Bagirathan, who lives at the property with his two parents, explained: "The council-owned footpath is terribly maintained. There was a huge hedge at the back of the house before and from the footpath, it wasn't maintained by the council and it was overgrown. It looked really unkempt.

He continued: "The footpath was full of dog faeces, weeds and litter. It's not a nice place for people to walk down and there are lots of children who lives nearby, it wasn't hygienic. We were asked by our neighbours if we wanted to split the costs of putting a fence up to replace the hedge. Our neighbour did everything, we just paid."

Business owner Brindon, 27, said: "We asked our neighbours why they feel it is that we've received complaints and they think it's because we are the only Asian family in the close but that should be no reason for us to get picked on.

"Personally I find it's been quite rudely dealt with. We asked the council why they hadn't contacted our neighbour when we changed fences at the exact same time but we've had absolutely no explanation. If it's not racially motivated then there is clearly some inconsistencies in how they treat residents.

"I feel quite annoyed about it and disgruntled. We have always been good residents and paid our council tax on time. There should be mutual respect for residents and it is disheartening to see how this council operates.

"I think there needs to be more personable communication with residents. Fundamentally there could have been a knock on the door to speak to us - we could have had a general conversation about it. Instead, we've received all these letters while our neighbour hasn't been sent anything.

The health care entrepreneur, who moved to Basingstoke from North London three years ago, continued: "What we are talking about here is a small, insignificant piece of land.We have volunteered to pay for that strip of land rather than us having to uproot the fence line. You would think when the council is moaning about austerity they would be happy to receive revenue, it's totally absurd."

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s head of law and governance Fiona Thomsen said: “Following an investigation that found a fence had been constructed enclosing council-owned land behind the two properties in Chineham, a letter was sent in July by the council to the legal owners of number House A (the Bagirathan family). It was initially thought that House A had encroached on both the council’s land at the rear of their boundary and the rear of House B, hence the letter was sent to the legal owners of House A.

“However it has subsequently been confirmed that House B had encroached on the council’s land at the rear of their property and so the council has recently also written to the legal owners of House B.

“Although the owners of House A have indicated that they may be prepared to purchase the land from the council, the council’s Natural Environment Department has advised that it would object to such application, and this was communicated to the legal owners of House A in August.

“In that same letter we requested that the fence should be removed from its current position and re-erected along the legal boundary of House A.

“The legal letters sent out by the council were written to a standard template.”