Council threat for retired couple planting flowers

You need to apply to the council for a licence to do that, but it would be interesting to hear of their response as it would make the council appear stupid whether they issued or refused it. The local press often like that sort of story (although some local papers appear reluctant to criticise the local council as they rely on their press releases to re-print almost word for word as a source of 'stories' to fill their paper with rather than doing any proper reporting).

 

I must admit our councillor is has much use as a chocolate fireguard, the only time you see them is when it's the council elections.

 

Had the same situation here and the 'independent' only got elected after the incumbent useless councillor didn't seek re-election, but the 'independent' immediately became just as useless, joined the party of the previous incumbent, got rewarded by them with a paid post and then toed the party line. When that one left, another local person got elected who spends all their time helping a few individuals get their way rather than standing up for the village as a whole (anything to get votes), but I expect they'll be ousted at the next election.

 

Like the council lady I spoke to for over an hour, in front of lots of waiting people, not even given the courtesy of a private meeting room, but I didn't care because I knew that I was right and I knew that if this lady insisted on trying to belittle me in front of everyone, fine, because I knew it would backfire horribly, as indeed it did.

I was was just turned 18, and poll tax had not yet been abolished. If there's anyone reading young enough to not remember it, poll tax was like council tax, but per individual as opposed to per household. It was a tax on breathing. You became liable for it when you turned 18. I was about 3 months after 18 when my demand arrived. It was of course from the council, and it threatened court action for being nearly 3 years in arrears.

It took me an hour to explain to the lady that if I'm a few months past 18, and you only have to pay from when you turn 18, then I can't be nearly 3 years in arrears so the only possible explanation is that the council made an error. The woman was having none of it.

At one point I even made her do some basic arithmetic out loud with me, to demonstrate that 18 (the age you have to pay it at and the age I was) minus 3 (the number of years I was apparently in arrears) was actually 15 and not 18. At one point, now clearly winning, as I had maintained my composure throughout while my oponent was clearly getting angry and flustered, I saw an opportunity for a bit of fun. I said to her, 'look, we'll do the sums again, 18 take away 3, hold up 18 fingers and then bend 3 down and count what's left'. There was barely stifled chortles from the rest of the waiting crowding when she actually held up both hands and looked at them for a moment, very confused, before realising that she didn't actually have 18 fingers.

Eventually, she conceded defeat, and in front of the audience admitted that there had been an error. I distinctly remember one waiting old lady tapping her walking stick on the floor and saying calmly, 'well done lad'.

A few years ago, our local council, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, made a massive high profile media campaign saying how they were skint and would have to raise council tax. Then just after that, there was that banking crash in Iceland. Our local council lost many millions in it. So this begs the question. If they had many millions in an offshore bank account, how could they, prior to the collapse of that bank, honestly say they were skint? The simple answer seems to be that they might have been lying.

 

Well, I got a reply from the council leader......................

"on the face of it I am horrified at this, however, having asked our Director to look into this it seems that there is along standing neighbourhood dispute so I am awaiting further information so that I can fully understand the situation. it is clearly not as straightforward as suggested in theDaily Mail

regards"

Fair dues, it was more than I expected.

 

The reply does beg one question though - was it a narked neighbour or an eagle eyed council employee who dobbed them in?
Actually, what about the council employees responsible for cutting the grass all these years?

 

I also had another reply (for some reason it was in my Spam box) from a Councillor Lynn Riley
Executive Member for Localities.

In the interests of balance I've copied it below.......................

"Thank you for your comments and please be assured that our officers and I ( with portfolio responsibility for this area) are looking at the wider implications for what is being reported in a somewhat biased way.

As ever, there are usually more sides to a story and the concerns and reports from neighbours has not featured in any report. I am sure you can appreciate that one man's passion is another man's reason to contact to the Council. As the Local Authority, we have to respond to everyone and everything that comes to our door and try wherever possible to find an acceptable balance.

This balance is being achieved in communities up and down the borough and we have some amazing "guerilla gardening" projects that really drive to the heart of "big Society". These are proving highly successful and very popular because they involve many people, from all ages over wide areas where individuals come together with a common idea and a desire to see themselves as a "community". This case is somewhat different being a one-man project. The papers rightly state that this has taken place over some years and this is correct. Our streetscene teams have respected this gentleman's right to care for the verge outside his home and have welcomed the attention when it was limited to grass cutting and a few modest bedding plants. It would appear that his ambitions have escalated quite recently and the scale of the "gardening" has prompted neighbours to complain to the council. Hence the inspection that has resulted in some unfortunate media reports. What is not reported is that our staff have been trying to work with the residents concerned to find a compromise but when none was forthcoming, letters were written and when people don't like an outcome, off to the press they go.

The highway is always an emotive area and people don't always grasp the legal responsibilities that go with it. What would happen if plants were damaged or if vehicles were damaged by what appeared on the verge? The "what if " factor can be happily ignored by others, but alas not by CWAC as the principle authority.

We are going to look at how we might help people find a way of realising their ambitions to make their neighbourhood a more pleasant and attractive place, whilst respecting the rights of others not to agree . Our aim is to fundamentally keep everyone safe from the laws of unintended consequences.

I live in hope that we can find a way to square this circle."

Hate it when I have to be fair to Tory councillors!