Messy front Garden

Environmental Health?

The Council also has powers to help maintain the standard of the local environment.

Land or buildings in an unsightly condition that may be "detrimental to the amenity of the neighbourhood" can be dealt with under powers available under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

The Council can serve a Section 215 notice on the owner or occupier when the poor condition and the appearance of the property or land are detrimental to the surrounding area or neighbourhood. The section 215 notice requires proper maintenance of the property or land in question, and it specifies what steps are required to remedy the problem within a specific time period. An appeal may be lodged against the section 215 notice to the magistrates court. The non-compliance with a section 215 notice is an offence.

Petrol can and a match?

GB wrote in news:oogslm$1mt$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Many thanks.

I think it depends on whether its dangerous, or in a conservation area. You might be able to suggest there is vermin there, but proof is hard to come by. Hoarders need help not bashing over the head with a lawyer. I have a friend a bit like this. Three cars in hist garden which he says he is going to either strip for spares or get to run as two are classic. I say the two classics are not and are simply rusting away. Luckily they cannot be seen from the road, but I'd not want to live next door to it. He is over 70 and I don't think he will ever find time or inclination to do anything. Brian

I remember a tv programme (can't remember what series it was part of) 'starring' a Mr Trebus. He had a garden that was all but a tip. The process to get him to clear it up was V E R Y long and tedious, the council (may have been the H&S dept.) was involved and all sorts.

Ended up they cleared it and charged him, within a few weeks it had started up again within a year it was as bad as ever.

Replace unsightly old cars with burnt-out unsightly old cars. Good plan. :)

A Life of Grime, commentary by John Peel

And then he went into an old people's home and then he died.

But also answers another thread 'How to get rid of moss'.

Before agrochemicals, gardening magazines had adverts for 'flame throwers', based on pumped-up blowtorches for sterilising soil or killing weeds.

And John Peel went to Machu Picchu, and he died (heart attack). Probably went up to altitude too quickly.

You can still get them, and I don't mean the tiddley little propane things available from LIdl and Aldi but much larger paraffin powered tools.

A chum and I had school holiday jobs nearly 50 years ago at a semi derelict Nursery Gardens which the owner by herself was attempting to recover, the flame gun was one of the most used tools. One Friday we burnt a load of nettles and bracken that were inside a semi sunken greenhouse that had built up for about 20 years and the went home. On Monday Morning we found that it was a now a glass roofed if somewhat mucky swimming pool as unaware of its presence we had melted a lead pipe supporting a tap. This caused a temporary water shortage as the gardens were supplied by an old iron tank that was now empty and that was fed by a Hydraulic Ram that took a while to top it up again. Now that was a bit of green technology that in the right place actually worked and even then had done so for about 60 years.

G.Harman

A youngster then?

In the Sheffield episodes there was a Mr Trebus-like man whose case was being dealt with by a colleague of mine back in a previous life. It was noticable seeing his house change each time I went past on the bus, and then a year later seeing it on TV and realising I'd been watching it happen as it happened.

What does John Peel have to do with this? I know I liked his old radio shows many years ago.

Sad when people don't realise they are getting old and are mearely creating a problem for those they will leave behind.

Not really. It gives the people they "leave behind" a chance to make a new start. Supposing instead he was a keen gardener with a prize winning garden and suddenly dropped dead. And none of those he left behind had the slightest interest in gardening. What then ? Should they be saddled with vainly trying to keep it on ? Or should they have the chance of getting in contractors to dig it all up and lay fancy paving, as would be their right. Exactly the same as if it had been an overgrown jungle.

michael adams

...

It will get rid of the tires, caravan and shed.

And a burnt out car soon starts to rust.

In message , DerbyBorn writes

Interesting comment. Not talking about untidy front gardens here, but generally leaving problems for the next generation. We bought this property 15 years ago, and it was fairly run down, with all sorts of problems, which are gradually being dealt with. However, I know I'm getting slower, coupled with doing slightly less per day. Assuming I live here until the day I die, I may not (will probably not) finish everything that needs doing.

Well, so what? My son will inherit probably not a great deal of cash, but a property worth quite a lot of money. OK, I will be leaving him with stuff that needs doing, but he will still have the asset which he can keep, knowing ongoing work will be required, or sell as is, and come out with a barrow load of cash to spend on his own smaller place, or blow the lot on fast cars and faster women. All my 'treasures' he can keep, sell, or chuck in a skip.