VERGING ON MADNESS!
Couple told to rip up roadside flowerbed after ONE complaint
ABLAZE with colour, the flowerbed planted by Brian and Sally Williams on the verge opposite their 200-year- old cottage is a splendid sight.
For the past 16 years they have been filling it with blooms to brighten up their village.
But now, after a neighbour complained, the council have deemed it a danger to drivers using the narrow lane – which has just nine houses on it – and given the retired couple a week to remove it.
Yesterday, former pub landlady Mrs Williams, 69, said: ‘The only people who come past us on this lane are two neighbours, the milk lady and the postman. When we moved here the road was neglected, with grass growing wild. As a keen gardener, I see a bit of neglected land and I just had to smarten it up.’
The couple are not alone in thinking the decision by Sheffield City Council borders on the ridiculous – 3,000 people have signed a petition demanding their roadside display in the village of Loxley, near Sheffield, is allowed to stay.
Mrs Williams added: ‘We all keep the areas around our homes in an immaculate condition. We’ve had nothing but praise for what we have done here. This is our passion.
‘Then to receive a letter like this out of the blue – it’s appalling.’
Mrs Williams and her husband, 80, bought the cottage in 1991, but as they were running a pub in the Peak District they did not move there until they retired in 2002. Since then they’ve spent more than £1,000 on the verge, which is edged with stones. In 2014, Sheffield City Council relaid the road surface and the stones were ‘tarmacked in’. Mrs Williams, who is appealing the removal order, said: ‘If they had such a problem, why didn’t they raise it then?’ The council has warned that if the flowerbed is not removed, it will carry out the work and send the couple the bill. Sheffield City Council said: ‘We have sympathy with the homeowner, who has attempted to stop cars driving over the verge on a very narrow, single-track lane. Unfortunately the flowerbeds, as well as stones and water barrels, could be a danger to road users.’