My hedges/trees have not changed in 10 years. Each year they
are cut back. The people in front actually stole 2 feet from my garden to put
their fence up but the council said "yeah. Well..."
This year I had a local housing officer (who did not identify himself but just pointed
to his council jacket) come around and I thought it was about the subsidence in
my garden. No. He was here about another "anonymous" complaint -we
get 4-5 a year and the council considers anonymous letters to be better than a
tenant of 30 years with a clean record.
He said I ought to
get gardeners in but that I would have to pay (?) but as I pointed out: I do
all the work over summer (its called gardening). Letters, calls and turning up
and, on one occasion, looking around without notice and going around the back
of the property where my sister’s room is –she was changing clothes and called
out to me that there was a man outside her window!
The department
supervisor (never showed any ID) came with the local man (Samir Waheed) and I
showed her the garden. No problems. 'case' closed in August 2012.
Last Friday, out of the blue, another letter stating a
landscape gardener was calling today (Monday 27th November). I
contacted the council and asked about this.
The person I spoke to checked the files and told me the case was closed
but he checked with someone then came back to the phone to confirm that the
case HAD been closed on 29th August and no letter had been sent out.
As I had to go to hospital on the 27th I asked
whether a note could be left with the person who had sent the letter to state I
would be out? I was told the message had
been forwarded.
On the Monday I got home, not feeling well, and my sister told me the council supervisor
AND landscape gardener had called and wanted all my hedging cut down and the conifers
with nesting birds cut down to 6 feet. Supervisor told my sister "A couple
thousand £s worth of damage had been done to the fence in front –I enclose photos
are of the non-existent damage. Apparently “Our next step was to take court
action” but she decided to send the gardener in and that he could turn up and
cut everything down when he wanted without needing to give notice.
Again, I contacted the council and, luckily, spoke to the
same person as before who told me the message about my being out WAS passed
along -still no record of a letter or visit planned and NOTHING about court
action. This is basically local authority harassment --my subsidence is
"of no concern" apparently.
Had a chat with the supervisor who had
called around in August (only knew it was her because she told me it was she
who had called with Waheed) said everything was fine before but who tried to
back-peddle on everything she said because it was her supervisor who came out.
Tried to shout me down as I was explaining and I pointed out there were now
photographs showing her boss had LIED -no damage.
She then stated: ”I don’t know what
your problem is that you think your garden
is fine but your neighbours do not” I pointed out again that she had called in
August and found no problem. However,
she now stated that the old lady next door who is in her 90s and a bit scatty
and confused was one complainee –about damage to MY fence by the front gate(?) The others are the partially sighted guy at
the back who piled a couple of tons of gravel behind his fence and broke it (as
the council officer I was talking to had SEEN and photographed).
The third, alleged complainee was Mr Hancock who built a brieze
block wall next to a buddleia tree and forsythia tree and who the council told me
had demanded that I clear 1.5 m of my garden so his totally undamaged/unaffected
wall was clear. In fact, when I was
cutting back the growth by the wall last year I chatted to Mr Hancock who told
me clearly that he had made no such demand and had no idea what a metre
was. So long as nothing grew over or damaged
his wall he was quite happy. “Have you
talked to him this year?” I was asked and said no, because I talked it through
with him last year and had even seen him that morning and he was fine but as I
kept trying to explain she was raising her voice and talking over me repeating “Have
you spoken to him this year?” She told
me that she was going to phone him straight away to see if he was happy with my
garden(??).
When I stated that I had spoken three times to council
officers and that none of this was on the computer and that as far as they were
concerned the case closed in August I was told other council colleagues would
not know about any of this as it was "in my private case file on you"
-the council is keeping a confidential file on me?? Isn't that illegal?????
She told me that she would speak with the supervisor who called
around and call me back one afternoon. I
made it very clear and repeated that my solicitor had stated they must give
advance warning of any visits so that he or a colleague would be present to
represent me as he was very concerned by the private file and continued non-stop
visits and demands. My solicitor was interested in meeting her supervisor who
had declared there to be £2000 worth of damage to the fence –he took
photographs of the undamaged fence.
I heard nothing.
Today, 7th December, I looked out of my window
and saw someone walking along the path at the side of the house. I rushed out
and asked what she was up to? She looked
around and a man joined her. They had City Council jackets on and neither
identified themselves, though I did recognise the woman from August when she
came around without warning with Sameer Waheed.
I stated that I had made it very clear to her on the phone
that I needed to be told if there was an intended visit again (this is the twelfth
this summer) as I had been advised by my solicitor to do so that he or a
colleague was present. They totally
ignored this and my request that they return once my solicitor had been
informed.
The unidentified) man looked at my hedging, which I had cut
back before the recent bad weather, and told me: “It’s a mess. Not very well
maintained. We need it cut right down and a metre away from the fences.” I pointed out to him that the hedging was NOT
causing any damage and WAS being maintained.
I pointed to all the cut branches on the ground. “That’s not maintained very well, is it?” he
said nodding at the rose tree which is a wild rose tree and trimmed but not cut
right back. All the rest of the ‘hedges’ –a buddleia bush and some variegated ivy climbing up a laburnum
tree so NOT “hedges” are cut to a height level or below the fence and I asked
directly that the previously mentioned £2000 worth of damage to the fence be
pointed out. The man looked but ignored the question and said they wanted the “hedges
cut right down.”
The next part of the hedges –real hedging- consists of
jasmine bush and wild rose bush intermixed with privet which is level with the
fence in front which, as I pointed out and showed, is TOTALLY INTACT AND
UNDAMAGED. Response –“not well maintained.” Now, I have gardened since I was a
youngster and even won gardening awards so that was insulting enough but what
was more insulting was the attitude that my dangerous to walk on subsiding
garden was of “no concern.”
I need to point out here that from 1977-2007 I was a
wildlife advisor to UK
police forces and a member of the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime, I was
until recently a member of the British Naturalists Association and I ran the
Vale Wildlife Group which ran wildlife surveys of the Ashton Vale area. I am also a lifelong ornithologist (starting
at 7 years of age and am now in my 50s) and worked in projects building up wild
bird numbers and establishing breeding areas/nesting boxes.
I pointed to the only area that really needs working on,
that I began some work on yesterday (I pointed out what I’d cut) and pointed
out that the weather had stopped that. I
pointed out that I had to be careful as there were some house sparrow nests in
amongst the bramble –there is also a blackbird nest there. The man stated: “Rubbish. There are no birds
breeding this time of year.” I pointed
to the very noisy and active sparrows in front of us in the area in question
and was told I was “talking rubbish” and I asked whether I was actually
imagining the noise and the sparrows hopping about in front of us? “They might have a nest but NO birds breed
this time of year” I said that they do and pointed out the nests.
The very rude and
insulting comment from the man was: “Don’t give me that old crap they do not
breed this time of year.” I responded (politely though I was very angry) by
stating that he ought to call the Bristol Organisation for Ornithology –he,
then the woman, said they had and that they were told “end of bird breeding is
23rd October. Nothing after that.” Firstly, I meant the Bristol Ornithology
Club so if they contacted a non-existent body it might explain the
statement. To be sure I later contacted
the Society as well as The British Trust for Ornithology and the BOC stated
that there is no such thing as an exact date when birds stop breeding and that
they would never give such a date. The
BTO responded: “Birds generally start nesting in early spring and breed as the
spring days lengthen.... However certain species of bird nest all year.” The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(RSPB) state (also on their website): “he main nesting season is from April to
August, although nesting has been recorded in all months.”
Ditto Blackbirds.
The woman then made a couple of remarks about when she had
called “last time” –now she had told me over the phone that it was her
supervisor who had previously called around.
My sister and brother, watching from inside, identified this as being
the woman who had said there was £2000 worth of damage to the fence. SHE had
been the caller NOT her supervisor. This woman has told one lie after another
and does not seem to care if she gets caught out.
The man told me that I had a “couple of months to get the
garden to their satisfaction” and I pointed out my health problems and that I
maintained the garden throughout the year and was not going to do everything in
one day –that is NOT what gardening is. I stated that I had no problem if THEY
wanted to cut 7 feet off the top of what they called the “leilandii” –the trees
are NOT leilandii species. The man then got VERY close to me and said: “And you
can maintain that can you? You can maintain that can you?” I now raised my
voice and held up my hand as he was being very aggressive and said I could. He
repeated “You can maintain that can you?” I responded: “I am neither deaf nor
mentally handicapped or senile. I’ve just answered you clearly.”
I pointed out that this had now been twelve visits over the
Summer –not one with any notification and all with council officers just
walking onto the property (despite a warning of dogs being loose) and moving
around it. Apparently they “do not have
to forewarn”. I pointed out that I had nothing in writing about complaints and
that the City Council told me the case was closed on 29th August –“Its
all in our file on you” –the second time I’ve been told there is a file on me
that they keep but council colleagues cannot access! I checked before writing this and the file on
the complaint was –officially- closed 29th. No other action is recorded on computer.
Subsidence in the garden, which as I was showing them I
tripped in, is of “no interest” –in fact they both then had a conversation
about my home being demolished in the next couple years to be replaced by a
brick one. I was totally ignored but
this was an excuse to, it seems, do nothing about the back and front subsidence.
I’m not sure if this was a scare tactic and it’s the first I heard of my home
due for demolition –as the woman said to her colleague: “if that goes through
this’ll be pointless as the bloody lot will be levelled”!!
I did point out how wide an area “one metre clearance all
around the property” was –including that the 1.5 m at the side of the property
would involve cutting some of the building.
Totally ignored.
Interestingly, they said that a “councillor” (who they would
not name) had complained about the conifers which he had seen while walking
around and I asked why he never knocked
and the door to mention it? “He didn’t
know which property they were in”? If
they are so large and offensive he –if this is true- could not look between the
spaces of the properties at the back to see where the trees were? There is a long council drive at the side of
our garden and if you walk past that you see the garden/trees. There are spaces between the properties in
front so you can see where the trees are.
Basically, they want my garden hedges (“we’re not interested
in the other parts of the garden”) to
conform to what they think it should look like –I offered to take them to see
Mr. Hancock who they said complained about damage to his wall and wanted the
metre clearance and whom the woman told me on the phone she was going to call
after the last visit. Not interested.
The whole attitude from clearly not identifying themselves,
not telling me they were calling despite being told this needed to be done,
simply walking in and moving about the property (luckily while the dogs were
indoors being fed!) without knocking or ringing the bell and being rude and
insulting and trying to raise their voices over mine as I was trying to respond
politely was bad enough. That, again, I am told there is a private file on me –this was said very clearly and there is no
misunderstanding of what was said here- And that this is one visit after
another with nothing going on file is beyond a shadow of a doubt harassment.
The fact that they refused to budge when I said I had been legally advised to
say nothing and have my legal advisor present adds to the air of “I have no
rights as a tenant” or person.
If either of these two persons call on me again then I will
not speak to them other than to ask them to leave. In fact, I will make sure my solicitor
proceeds with this as harassment pure and simple.
Even the fact that they refused to give any guarantee that
their “arborist” will give advance notice of calling to cut the trees seemed to
indicate no interest in my rights as a tenant.
Remembering that they insisted my garden had been “checked thoroughly”
and so on, I thought it funny that they referred to cutting down “the tree” and
when I asked –“the conifers?” they said “Yes, it’s the one tree there.” I had to point out there were 5-6 trees
there!
I have tried to sort this out amicably but bullying seems to
be the main tactic, along with lies, being used by them. A copy of this letter will be going to my solicitor,
councillor, MP and if this persists I am quite prepared to contact my former
journalist colleagues and make a stink over it. I have been pushed, threatened
and harassed enough I had to take a double dose of my blood pressure tablets
after the visit and was very shaky –and then I’m told “we’ll be back to see its
been done to our satisfaction” so more visits without warning.
I enclose the photographs of the “offending hedges”, etc..
Perhaps you might care to confirm that my property is also
listed for demolition in “the next year or so”?
Signed
T. Hooper
