Council tenant Rosalyn Armer says she is being penalised for trying to keep her little part of Paddock looking nice.

Some 15 years ago Rosalyn and neighbour Olga Dearnley dug up the council’s grass outside their bungalows and planted flowers and shrubs.

Over the years the neighbours tended their blooms and killed off weeds growing between paving slabs by throwing bleach over them.

Olga died two years ago at the age of 86 and Rosalyn, now a pensioner with emphysema, pays a gardener to keep her own plot tidy.

The new tenant next door is too ill to look after his garden which has now become overgrown.

Rosalyn contacted Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing (KNH), the company which runs council housing in Kirklees, only to be told: “Because you dug up the grass and created a garden it’s your responsibility.”

Great-grandma Rosalyn couldn’t believe KNH was washing its hands and claimed the area round her home had been neglected.

There were huge weeds growing everywhere, dumped bottles and rubbish and a potentially dangerous hole in the pavement which she had reported to the council last year.

There was also a mattress which had been left in an overgrown front garden for at least a month.

When Rosalyn read the Examiner’s story about a KNH inspection on Mirfield’s London Park Estate, which resulted in Janne Shread and partner Paul Smith receiving a warning letter for not cutting their grass, she was furious.

Janne Shread of Southway, Mirfield, who has been instructed by Kirklees Council to cut the grass at her privately owned property which is undergoing improvement work.
Janne Shread of Southway, Mirfield, who has been instructed by Kirklees Council to cut the grass at her privately owned property which is undergoing improvement work.

In a letter to the couple KNH said: “Maintaining your gardens helps not only to improve the appearance of your home but also of the estate in general.

“If you fail to maintain your garden further action could be taken against you.”

Rosalyn questioned why KNH was on the warpath in Mirfield but not Paddock and said: “We used to have regular estate inspections but they seem to have stopped.

“Kirklees doesn’t seem to care about Paddock and what’s good for one estate should be good for another.”

Rosalyn said her plot and that of her neighbour was still council land and wasn’t enclosed like a garden.

“We just did this to make the estate look better and bring a bit of colour. Now Olga’s gone and the man next door is too ill what’s going to happen to her bit of garden? It still belongs to the council.

“I’ll probably get in trouble now for bleaching my flags to kill the weeds.”

The neighbour with the mattress in her garden told the Examiner she too had been ill and the mattress was waiting for collection by Kirklees Council.

She had requested free collection online and the wait was estimated at four to six weeks. “It’s been four or five weeks,” she said.

A KNH spokesman said: “We picked up the issues Mrs Armer has raised during a recent estate inspection. We’re looking to see if the paving can be replaced and have reported the hole and the bulky waste; these jobs will be done as soon as possible.

“We appreciate that people want to brighten up the land around their homes but when they plant flower beds in communal areas, it can cause problems if they are no longer able to look after them.

“We’ll talk to Mrs Armer about her concerns and look at a more low maintenance solution.”