Resident's kerbside garden under threat after anonymous council compliant: 'Stupid rule'
A resident who lovingly planted native shrubs and flowers outside her home fears she will have to remove them after an unknown person complained to council saying they were a "visual hazard".
Thelma Kilfeather lives in a residential street known for its leafiness in Elderslie, a suburb in Sydney's southwest. She has a well-established front garden, however she told Yahoo News the council has been "targeting it remorsefully" since receiving a complaint and is pushing its "no verge garden" policy onto her "lovely wee flowers".
Thelma's friend Tim Pickles, who is a local garden centre owner, told Yahoo she has been contacted by Camden Council five times in four weeks saying the plants in the nature strip outside her home have to go.
"They've had one complaint and she doesn't know who it came from," Tim told Yahoo. "They've told her to remove the garden because it's a visual hazard, the idea is that people can't see past it on the road."
However, Tim said the plants aren't particularly tall and the nature strip is "not overgrown, it's neatly maintained".
"It's not a hazard at all, it's ridiculous," he said. "We should be attracting nature to our nature strips. People should be able to plant trees and shrubs and flowers and even vegetables," he said. "Instead they want it to be turned into a grass slope... or weed-infested mess."
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Residents are permitted to plant on nature strips in many Aussie councils but often require permission or specific permits to do so. Yahoo News understands Thelma had not asked for or received permission before planting on the nature strip.
However, many believe there is unnecessary red tape around something that should be straightforward, with Tim calling it a "stupid rule" and questioning why it's not simply encouraged.
"If we attract nature closer to our home, we have better mental health... we should want to encourage gardeners, not find them and prosecute them," Tim said.
After sharing details of the issue online, many locals responded and called the decision "crazy". "That's beautiful, it's a pity more people didn't do the same," one said.
Camden Council told Yahoo News it has been in contact with Thelma after receiving complaints about her plants in the nature strip. It is unclear if the council received several complaints from the one person or from multiple people.
"Following recent complaints, the planting on the nature strip outside the resident's property is under review to ensure it does not pose a safety hazard," the spokesperson said. "The garden is planted on public land and is, therefore, unauthorised."
The council said Thelma hasn't been "formally advised" to take action as this stage and it will likely "request the resident trim and maintain the planting appropriately rather than remove it altogether".
"Council is currently considering the development of a Nature Strip Maintenance Policy, which would provide guidelines for residents to use their nature strips to plant small plants and shrubs. The development of this policy has been taken into consideration when considering this matter," the spokesperson said.
"Council works hard to balance the needs and requests of all residents, as well as consider any risks associated with matters like this."
Thelma isn't the first Aussie resident to face this issue with a council before, with Melbourne's Neil McPherson urged to dig out his agapanthus plants from the nature strip outside his home or face an almost $8,000 fine.
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