A council has told an 89-year-old grandma she may have to bin the street garden she has lovingly tended for decades after her neighbours complained about “anti-social behaviour”.
Katharine Hoskyns created a small oasis with a bench and some plant pots to cheer up the area outside her house in St John’s Wood, north-west London, more than 25 years ago.
The retired teacher says she loves looking after to the collection of tomatoes, geraniums, and herbs, and that many of her neighbours come to help out.
However, last month Westminster City Council (WCC) issued her notice asking her to remove the bench and plants after a “series of complaints from residents” that site is attracting “anti-social behaviour”.
The council said it was “reluctantly” obliged to start a formal process – but hoped the situation could be resolved “amicably”.
Katharine claims there is just one neighbour who objects.
She said: “There is just one person who doesn’t like it. They thought there was anti-social behaviour on the bench. There is no anti-social behaviour.”
Hamilton Gardens is a cul-de-sac located close to Abbey Road, and just a stone’s throw from the studio where the Beatles famously recorded their albums.
Katharine has lived in her home there since the 1960s and slowly added the plant pots over the years.
She said: “The council put in parking, so I had cars parked outside my house where I used to have a nice space.
“I decided instead of being miserable about it I was going to make the space nice again.
“I love it because I can go and potter around with my pots and people come up and talk to me. It is nice and sociable.
“I was really upset when I got the letter. It doesn’t cause obstruction, there is plenty of room for a wheelchair.”
The letter, sent at the end of July, said WCC had received complaints from “members of the local community.”
It added that council believed the garden could cause issues, stating that fallen pots could cause injury and the bench has not been confirmed as “structurally safe”.
But Katharine, after receiving the enforcement notice, decided to fight back.
The mum-of-three and grandmother replied to the letter with help from her family, arguing their side and attaching a petition signed by over 60 locals at the time.
The date to remove the plants has now passed with no action from WCC, but Katharine believes their fight is not yet over.
She said: “They will probably be in contact again but we will just keep replying when they do. It is not just me now, loads of people are involved and helping with the fight.
“The neighbours volunteer and help a lot. It is a community thing as well as for me.”
WCC previously installed a camera by the garden to monitor any anti-social behaviour, which Katharine claims has not found any.
Many locals love the plants, she says, and the Abbey Road orchestra has even nicknamed the street “The Pots”.
Katharine’s son Nicky Hoskyns, 58, started the petition to save the pots which has now received an amazing 190 signatures – all taken in person.
He said: “It was a bit of a shock, but we have responded. The whole family are involved and we have got a good campaign team.
“Everybody we have spoken to loves the pots. There is real solid support. We haven’t had any negative feedback.
“It looks like it is a battle that we can win, and we need some little wins at the moment.
“It would be such a shame if we lost them. The area would be horrible without them, you really would start to get problems.”
A Westminster city council spokesperson: “Following a series of resident complaints and attempts to resolve this dispute informally over several years, the council was, reluctantly, obliged to begin a formal process.
“Residents should be able to live without anti-social behaviour impacting on their lives. Moving this bench will help reduce the recent disturbance in the area.
“We remain hopeful that we can resolve the situation amicably.”
