Council threat for retired couple planting flowers

Another case of taking the rules literally.

Below is an exerpt from the Daily Mail

Colin Halsey and his wife Kath have planted flowers and bushes outside their home in Northwich, Cheshire, for the past 15 years - replacing a grass verge which was repeatedly churned up by drivers parking on it. Their reward for conscientiously planting and weeding the plot has been a threat from the council.
Colin, a 77-year-old retired salesman, told the Daily Mail that he and his wife had been planting the flower bed outside their former council house for a decade and a half before it was spotted by a council worker.
The worker informed the couple they had fallen foul of section 132 of the Highways Act 1980 and told them to remove the plants. When they didn't act on the request, they were sent a legal letter demanding that they take up the planting and replace it with grass within three weeks. The letter said that if they didn't do the work, the council would do it and charge them for it.

 

This happened to us in Buckinghamshire many years ago. We lived in the country facing fields, the first house in the village, and for 15 years planted shrubs and perennials between the roadside and the three steps and path up to our back gate and detached garage. We were always complimented by the villagers on how attractive it was getting a burst of colour on entering the village. One villager (disliked by all who had the misfortune to encounter her) complained to the council and we were served notice and had to comply. Fortunately the Mock Orange could stay as it was adjacent to our back gate, as could the Lilac ... but stupidly all the bedding and smaller perennials had to go!

We were told by the Council that it was a shame but that if someone complained they had to abide by the rules, as would we. I think they are 'merda' rules myself. I would rather see an attractive maintained border rather than an unkempt site of weeds/rubbish/rusty vehicles/etc, etc, etc.

Often here, people plants shrubs at the entrance to lanes on main roads and the council take care when cutting the edges not to disturb such. I have Mirabilis jalapa at the top of our lane (200 meters from my house) and plan to get some Osteospermums going up there too.

 

Petty minded idiocy! That said I can understand certain reservations, but surely intelligent people can find intelligent answers?

You can always do as I did and send the leader of the council an email. The address can be found here.

My email...............
"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ce-charged-criminal-damage.html#ixzz30wMLJoKd

Having just read the above article I am to say the least rather astonished. Surely it is not beyond the wit of Mr.Barnes to display an above average level of common sense to reflect his position (and almost certainly above average salary).
Whilst I appreciate that they have never sought permission it is clear that their intended aims were to simply stop the front of their home looking like the eyesores that appear (from that article at least) to be commonplace in the area. I also note that the grass appears to have been cut - maybe for the benefit of the press I accept.
As the council no doubt is primarily concerned about the title of the land a simple compromise is easily reached. Ask the couple to apply for retrospective permission, insist upon them signing an agreement to not pursue title to the land past present and future, stipulate that it may not extend any further, lay some sensible height restrictions and finally insist on an undertaking to maintain the current level of maintenance. As you intend to involve your legal team in a prosecution it will make better financial sense in the long run to use them to draw up such an agreement.

At the risk of descending into the realm of political cheapshots, which of the two scenarios is more in keeping with your esteemed leaders concept of The Big Society?

Yours sincerely,"

 

Sadly, there are loads of cases like this. Not far from me, some locals took over a back alley that was only ever used by drunken youths needing somewhere to stop for a pee on their way home. These locals turned the whole alley into a communal garden, and got done. There was a similar case a while back somewhere near Liverpool I think it was.

Just near me, an old couple has turned a grass verge into a little garden. Same deal as the people in your article. The 'grass' verge was actually just a churned up mess from cars parking on it, something that makes my blood boil, especially considering most of the houses round here have drives anyway so there's no reason except laziness for people putting their cars on the grass.

There is a law that says you're not allowed to park on the pavement or grass verges. I'm not sure if that is also the Highways Act, but if I was the old couple, I'd find out and throw that right back at the council and ask them why nothing has been done to enforce that law.

I'd also simply deny planting the verge up. If they wanted to charge me for restoring it back to its muddy state, I'd tell them to take me to court and prove that it was me but warn them that when I'd won, I'd make a counter claim for all my expenses.

Something else that makes my blood boil in cases like this. The councils wont lift a finger to make the neighbourhood nicer, yet if anyone is responsible, it is they, who are paid to do it, and who are (in theory at least) our elected representatives. I took the family for a picnic at the weekend in our local park. It used to be a paradise. A nice lake, with lovely trees, all manner of flowers, well tended lawns, boats to hire, well maintained outdoor sporting facilities etc. Now its a tip. Its an embarrassment. The park was given to the people of the town a round about the time of the war (or just before) by a rich officer, on the condition that an elected body looked after it, using staff recruited from the local community. That elected body ultimately came to mean the council, and now pretty much nobody looks after it except a handful of volunteers who do what they can with limited resources. The council wont do it, yet they'll happily take our council tax money and send it to an offshore tax haven, while at the same time fining anybody who tries to actually do it for them without their consent.

 

And even Parish Councils have to apply for permission to plant anything in grass verges and get made to remove it if they didn't apply for it (as happened to our stupid Parish Council when they turned a verge at a dangerous junction into a garden - complete with hard landscaping - without permission).


PS You need a licence even to just plant a few daffs in a grass verge or mow the bit outside your house http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/66/section/142 Some sample info (chose Surrey especially for @Loofah ) http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-an...ions-for-planting-shrubs-bulbs-in-the-highway NB The requirement to indemnify the Highway Authority against any claims up to £5,000,000 for any damage caused by your daffs.

That's the sort of a agreement that couple would need to enter into to retain their planting + Highway Authorities usually have at least an A4 page of further guidlines, banned plants, etc.

 

Don' t get me started on local councils...I live in a Cul-de-sac ,there's just 4 bungalows and between us we have over the years been constantly on to the council as we seem to get forgotten when it comes to the likes of road sweeping /maintance etc...at one point there was even 3ft weeds growing through the concrete in the gutters.We have in the past gone out there and done it ourselves but the hefty council tax we pay I don't think that's on ,after much wrangling I had a meeting with the local council and asked them why these things where getting over looked...they told me with the Cul-de-sac being small they have difficulty getting the road sweeper down itWhat a load of rot....it's no bigger than a milk float and besides we've had huge wagons down there delivering sand gravel etc plus the dust cart gets down there...then the next excuse was,at the end of the road it turns to the right and continues down the street with us being on the left,you can't miss us but it seems...wait for it...."we weren't on the map" how strange we suddenly reappeared when I started demanding being paid back all the council tax on a "non existent property "...the problem has since been solved but what a performance

Sorry I digress.....

It's such a shame for the couple and as long as it didn't cause any obstruction I think there is far more things for the councils to be concerned with....