A grandmother has been ordered by her local council to remove her street garden after 25 years of tending to it.
Speaking to GB News, Katharine Hoskyns, 89, said she was “sad and angry” after being told by Westminster City Council to clear the garden, claiming it is attracting “anti-social behaviour”.
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Ms Hoskyns has helped grow tomatoes, herbs and an array of flowers for her community, with locals nicknaming the street “The Pots” due to her work.
Speaking to National Reporter Will Godley, Ms Hoskyns said she “loves” tending to the garden and was “sad” to discover the council had told her to remove it.
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She told GB News: ” I love doing it. It’s not sunny at the moment, but usually there’s lots of sun.
“And I just enjoy looking after the plants, people come up and talk to me, and it’s a really sociable thing to do.”
Ms Hoskyns also claimed that there has been “no anti-social behaviour” on her street as a result of the garden.
She said: “I’ve never seen any anti-social behaviour, I don’t know why they’ve written this to me. But I felt sort of sad, and a bit angry.
“Luckily, my family all rallied round and decided I had to fight it and they organised a petition which got more than 100 signatures.
“It also got into the press and all you lot have come, so now it’s a big campaign. So I feel quite hopeful that we might win.”
Ms Hoskyns’s sister-in-law, Catherine Hoskyns, also helps out with the garden and told GB News that it helps her “get out and get some fresh air”, as she struggles with her mobility.
She said: “I can’t walk very well, I can only go short distances, so it’s lovely to come and sit here in the fresh air, and people passing by and the plants and the vegetables, it’s great.”
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Sharing her support for Ms Hoskyns’s street garden, neighbour Holly Bell-Stevens told GB News that it creates a “community space” which her children have grown up in.
She said: “It’s been a community space, as you can see. I’ve been here for 24 years on the street, raised four children, and my children learned how to ride their bikes here, pick the tomatoes for our companions.
“And I think one of the things that it does is, for example, my 21-year-old daughter comes and sits regularly with the Catherines and chatting about her life.
“She’s at university doing engineering, yet she can sit here and it creates a space for crossover in the community.”
Ms Bell-Stevens noted that there “has been communication” with the council to try and tackle anti-social behaviour, and they have installed CCTV on the street.
She said: “I would say that there has been communication between the council and between the communities.
“There’s CCTV in operation now, and there have been some reports in the past of people coming in here and using this quiet space and cars during the night, but since the CCTV it’s been much better, and I think the reduction was dramatic.”
In a statement, a Westminster City Council spokesperson said: “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.”
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