Reply from residents

In the Loughborough Echo dated 6th October, a tenant of a Charnwood Borough Council property on Beaumont Road defended their right to insert a fence around the rear of their property. Charnwood Borough Council have insisted that the fence must be removed.

To the reader it will seem that the tenant is being treated harshly and that the neighbouring residents are taking no care for their dwellings.

There is information that the public will be unaware of. Firstly, each tenant that is granted a bungalow in this section of the Shelthorpe estate must sign an agreement that the garden area is communal and cannot be partitioned off with a fence of any kind.

The second piece of information the public need to be made aware of is that the residents in these properties are in various stages of retirement and as such suffer from a wide array of serious disabilities.

To level the accusations stated in the October 6th report against such a tight-knit micro-community of vulnerable people is at least disingenuous and at it’s worst, deeply hurtful. Language employed such as ‘Steptoe’s Yard’ and ‘a gypsy encampment’ are both highly offensive.

When residents collectively obey their tenancy agreements and seek to maintain respect then a community is established. We kindly petition that these accusations be retracted and an apology offered.

Residents of Beaumont Road

council bungalows