THE council had forced the clearance of two overgrown private gardens deemed to be a nuisance and danger to others – after residents ignored orders to clear the mess themselves.
Coventry City Council says it has enforced the clearance of the two highly overgrown gardens in the northeast of the city.
Officers from the council’s planning enforcement team initially inspected the properties in Wyken Avenue and Purcell Road in 2014 after they received complaints that both the front and rear gardens of the properties were overgrown.
The team cleared the properties last month following the owners’ failure to comply with an enforcement notice served after the initial inspections.
Councillor Hazel Sweet, planning committee chair, said: “We want Coventry’s neighbourhoods to be safe, clean and welcoming for everyone and we will ensure that when someone fails to maintain their property to the point where it becomes a danger to themselves and others, we’ll take enforcement action.
“Of course we understand that it can sometimes be a difficult job to maintain a property – but this wasn’t about gardens that had got a bit out of control.
“These two homes were being engulfed by their gardens – front and back. And trees and weeds were spilling on to the pavements and their neighbours gardens.
“I hope this action sends a signal to other people – we won’t tolerate situations like this – and if we can’t work with people to find an amicable solution we will take action.”
During the first inspection in Wyken Avenue, council officers discovered that the overgrown gardens were harbouring waste and vermin, and vegetation was overhanging on to the public footpath.
The property was also in a generally poor condition and the unkempt gardens were posing a risk of harm to the property’s neighbours, the council says.
The occupier of the Wyken Avenue property failed to undertake any of the work as ordered by an enforcement notice. Magistrates last year fined them £1,000.
Further failures to comply meant that the council acted under Section 219 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, allowing it to enter the land and undertake the works required as ‘works in default’.
The same acted was used for work at the Purcell Road property.
The costs of the works carried out at both properties will be recovered by the council from the owners, says the council.
