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Estate gave us all hanging baskets, then they banned them weeks later
Mark Blunden23.07.09
Hanging baskets have been banned from the Grosvenor and Regency Estates in Pimlico
Residents of Grade II-listed homes were told to remove their hanging baskets - weeks after being given flowers to plant in them.
Managers of the Grosvenor and Regency estates in Pimlico handed out the plants, flowers and herbs, including petunias, busy lizzies and blue lobelias, at a community festival.
But six weeks later they ordered the baskets to be taken down after a staff member checked the buildings' lease conditions and found they were banned as they could damage walls.
Resident Nicolette Amette said a manager had even helped her fill her hanging baskets and praised her choice of tumbling tomato plants.
Ms Amette, 38, hung her baskets on wall brackets outside her flat but then received a letter saying she was "obstructing central balconies" in breach of her lease.
The letter said: "Should the item not be removed we will have to remove the items causing the obstruction and charge you for their removal."
Ms Amette, a TV producer, said: "These plants make the estate a lovely place to live but we were threatened with a £1,000 fine if we did not take down our baskets. Everyone enjoys them and lots of people are very upset because they have grown their flowers and plants from seeds.
"Many are so proud of their baskets they resort to bringing them indoors when the inspectors come and sneaking them back out once they've left."
Tyrone Vaux, 40, who works in property, said: "It's a bit fresh of estate managers to tell people to take down their baskets. They bring a lot of beauty and I can't see how they will damage our stone balconies, they are really solid. The place would look so bare without them."
The Grosvenor and Regency estates are next to each other and comprise 874 homes.
Built between 1928 and 1930, the Grosvenor was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who was also responsible for creating large parts of New Delhi. The Regency, made up of red-brick Victorian properties, is in a conservation area.
The estates are owned by Westminster council, which employs Citywest homes to manage its housing stock. English Heritage said there "shouldn't be an issue" with basket brackets as long as Westminster's conservation officer agreed. Carlo Laurenzi, chief executive of London Wildlife Trust, said: "Every bit of responsible, sustainable gardening matters and will help make our city a greener place."
As a compromise, residents were told they could rest their hanging baskets on the floor or use window boxes and fixed planters. But now, after inquiries by the Standard, Westminster agreed to consider residents' ideas for hanging baskets, although adding that tenancy agreements clearly forbid them.
A spokeswoman said: "If a resident contacted us we would be happy to consider proposals if they don't damage the fabric or detract from the appearance of the building."
The council has replaced its Westminster in Bloom gardening competition this year with a Green Champions contest it says will be more cost effective and celebrate a wider range of schemes, such as allotments. A spokeswoman said: "Value for money is always a priority for the council and this is ever more important in the current economic climate."
Reader views (3)
Government giveth, government taketh away.
When the government is run by egotistical, overpaid, power hungry "experts" this is what happens.
When the people do not own their own land, their own homes, this is what happens.
When only the illusion of liberty, or freedom, is present and not the substance, this is what happens.
- Trunk, US
David, it is the time and money-wasting silliness of the ban that is "news" not the trivial existence of the hanging baskets. It is a tiny part of the general picture rather than the portrait itself, indicative of the ways much needed money that cannot be spared is being frittered away.
That thing on your face? Your nose? There are things happening beyond it, you know.
- Rogan, Irving
I am shocked at all the madness in this country, and it is getting worse, meanwhile Brown is showing the Lords and Ladies around his veggie patch at number 10,"God", let them eat cake comes to mind, I feel so helpless, these people must feel awful at the ban on their hanging baskets, this should be front page news, it is shocking.
- David Crocket, Bradford , UK.
