Blackpool: Residents upset after contractors clean up community garden | UK News

Residents of a Blackpool housing development are unhappy after a team of contractors brought in to clean up a community garden left a scene of “devastation”.

The contractors used a lawn trimmer to cut down plants, including flowers, that had bloomed on Molyneaux Drive, much to the frustration of locals.

Ian Morris, who has lived in the area for 23 years, blasted the contractor’s efforts, calling it “vandalism”.

The 68-year-old said: “We pay £40 a year for floor maintenance and we just want the garden to be beautiful, it really means a lot to some of the residents here.

“This group of young guys came in with brush cutters and just mowed the bushes and flower beds – and then just left.

“It seemed to me that they just had no idea what they were doing and it was as bad as actual vandalism.”

He added: “One of the contract officers told me he was fully qualified and doing winter pruning.

“I told him that winter pruning is done in November, not in spring when the plants are just starting to grow.

“You have to come back and sort things out.”

Blackpool Coastal Housing, owner of the property, says the work was necessary as the garden had become neglected and overgrown.

They insist that the contractors have a lot of gardening experience.

John Donnellon, Managing Director of the association, said: “Blackpool Coastal Housing maintains the green spaces for the benefit of all of its tenants and works with tenants on many areas where tenants wish to be involved in garden projects.

‘In this case, the resident who previously tended this area has moved and the vegetation has been neglected and overgrown and trimmed back by our landscaping managers who have experience maintaining our landscaping.’

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