UPDATE Council abandons garden help scheme for elderly and disabled.

UPDATE The Council now seems to BE back tracking. It says that the  communication it issued earlier today was “only the first step in consultation”. The following is an extract from that the earlier communication. Make you own mind up whether  you think it sounds  like consultation

The cost of the scheme was extremely high and unsustainable, so we are exploring other ways to provide a service to the most vulnerable in future, in partnership with charities and volunteers.  Unfortunately, this won’t be in place this year so as an interim measure we will be providing the most vulnerable tenants with a payment of £200 that they can use to contribute towards the cost of maintaining the garden this year.

From information we have on Housing Management systems, we have filtered customers into those we believe would not meet the new criteria and those that would with the appropriate letter going to these customers. Housing Management Officers will be visiting all customers that as part of the Health and Wellbeing visits, to ensure that all tenants who genuinely have no option than that provided by The Council.  Once HMO’s have confirmed eligibility the payment will be arrange to be made early in the new financial year.

The Council is now saying the proposal will go to a decision meeting in April

The Council has, however, admitted that it has already posted the letters to tenants!

EARLIER It looks like the Council will refuse to help elderly tenants who are unable to maintain their own gardens. Until this year elderly and disabled tenants had received help in cutting hedges and lawns through a garden help scheme.

Now a housing official has said that the garden help scheme has been abandoned.

In the past the Council has been criticised for the slowness of the garden care scheme which provided only a minimal service

The proposal to abandon the tenants has not yet been considered by the Councils’ Executive.

Only last week the Council announced that it would make a surplus of over £3 million on its council housing rent account this year. It holds an accumulated surplus on the account of over £20 million with a rent increase pending.

The garden care scheme has been in existence for several decades. It provides a basic gardening service for those on limited means who are unable to do heavy work themselves and who do not have anyone else that they can turn to for help.

Now the official has said that the scheme is being scrapped with immediate effect. The most seriously disabled will be offered a payment of £200 which the Council says can be used to employ someone to undertake gardening work.

The Council also talks loftily of setting up a scheme of “volunteer gardeners” to assist. They accept that this is not yet in place.

It is not the first time that the Council has eroded the garden help scheme. In 2016 over 100 pensioners lost access to the scheme.

Overgrown hedges are unsightly and block footpaths

As well as the welfare of sick and elderly people, another concern is the effect that overgrown hedges will have on local neighbourhoods. There are already complaints about lack of maintenance in some estates.

There has been no consultation with residents or tenants organisations in the City.

Whereas previous attempts to jettison the service were initiated by Tory Councillors, the latest proposal comes under the stewardship of Green Party Councillor Denise Craghill. To what extent she has been party to the plan is unclear.

Liberal Democrat Councillors in wards like Westfield, which has a high proportion of Council tenancies, are likely to be put under extreme pressure to block any changes until alternative arrangements can be put in place.