Woman parks car on green to stop council workers digging it up
SHE IS PROTESTING AGAINST ‘IMPROVEMENTS’
A WOMAN has parked her car on the green opposite her Bilborough house to prevent Nottingham City Council workmen from digging it up for “improvements”.
Kate Marsh, who lives on Redruth Close, came back from an appointment on Wednesday morning to find a digger circling the grassed area.
She had only heard the previous night that the work was due to begin, having missed a home consultation visit a few weeks earlier. But, unhappy with the proposal to turn the spot into a small park, she mounted the green with her Citroen C1 and left it parked in the centre.
Soon after, having consulted their bosses, the workmen left. Ms Marsh moved her car, but promised to put it back in the same position again if any other council vehicles turned up.
She said: “My neighbour texted me the night before to let me know what was happening. I was like ‘you are joking?’ Then, when I got back from the appointment, I thought ‘I’m not having this.’ It doesn’t need any of this. It’s just a waste – especially now. We’re bankrupt. They’re wasting money. I don’t want it. None of us want it. It’s not necessary. Why now? Why? It’s just made me so angry.”
It is understood that the cash used to fund the works could have come from a variety of sources including contributions from developers.
However, the city council said it was unable to comment or elaborate on where the money came from.
Residents on Redruth Close were reportedly visited by city council representatives a few weeks ago to tell them of the work that would take place outside their homes. Details of the scheme are not available publicly, but Ms Marsh says that neighbours were told that “improvements” would take the form of benches, flowerbeds, trees, wood chippings and a telephone box book exchange.
Ms Marsh said: “We’ve got a library down the road. There’s a park literally a few hundred metres away. We’ve got so many trees. This is going to get vandalised.
On Tuesday afternoon a tractor cut the grass. Then, on Wednesday at around 10am, a vehicle came to mark the area for work and began to dig up some of the turf.
Ms Marsh drove onto the green as soon as she returned from her appointment.
When the workmen asked her what she was doing, she says she told them: “Protesting.”
Soon after, the workmen left. Ms Marsh says her end goal is to make sure the work does not go ahead at all.
She said: “I have no idea why they’d do this. Where we live there is no thoroughfare for possible pedestrians. Children who attend Samworth Academy walk past. That’s it. The only people who come on here are the people who live here.”
The green and homes on Redruth Close were built after the Second World War and the green has been unchanged for more than 70 years. It remains popular with children in the summer.