A major petition has been launched to help save a 92-year-old’s flowerbed which encroaches on the local village green.
Almost 8,000 people have backed a petition to save the flowers in front of Thelma Peppert’s attractive house in Dalton Piercy near Hartlepool.
She has lived in Rose Cottage since 1967 and the family has a photo of the property when they moved in, showing there were plants and shrubs in front of the house back then.
Thelma Peppert has lived in Rose Cottage in the village of Dalton Piercy, near Hartlepool, since 1967
Pictured: Rose Cottage in 1967, the year Mrs Peppert moved in to the country home
Since moving into the listed building, Mrs Peppert (pictured) has tended a flower border by her front wall
Her son and carer John Proudlock said that was important as it proved the family has not enlarged the size of the flower bed – contrary to the parish council’s claims.
His mother is housebound and the stress of the dispute had made her ill, he said.
So she was heartened by the public’s reaction to the story, and by the backing the petition has received.
Mr Proudlock said: ‘I got a call from Hartlepool Borough Council’s legal department saying they were seeking an amicable resolution for us, so I think they are starting to backtrack.’
Mr Proudlock’s appeal on the online petition page said Dalton Piercy Parish Council wanted them to remove the flowers from in front of their home as it was on the village green.
He wrote: ‘This seems very unfair, as other houses adjacent the green appear to have small areas of garden or other encroachments that also appear to be on registered village green.’
Parish councillor Alan Timothy told reporters that the family lost a Land Registry Court case over ownership of the bed, but the council let her keep the flowers.
Mr Timothy said of Mr Proudlock: ‘He can’t accept they bought a house without a front garden.’
In 2010, she took the parish council to court in a bid to claim the land (pictured) as her front garden
But as it is part of the village green, a judge ruled the floral feature was unlawful
Alan Timothy, from Dalton Piercy Parish Council, told The Gazette the issue has been a thorn in their side for several years.
He shared the Land Registry Court ruling which concluded Mrs Peppert’s rose feature constituted ‘a public nuisance’ and it appeared she had cultivated the land in a bid to stop other people enjoying that area of the green.
Mr Timothy said, despite the court’s decision, they had allowed Mrs Peppert to keep the roses.
But he went on to explain the feature has since been extended. And it is their belief, he said, that Mrs Peppert and her son John are deliberately trying to block the way for a proposed footpath to the side of their house which would lead to a new children’s play area for the villagers to enjoy.
Pictured: Mrs Peppert’s (left at an early age) son John Proudlock (right), who lives with his disabled mother and is her full-time carer
Pictured: L-R John Proudlock Snr, Dee Picken (a relative of the family) and Thelma Peppert
Since moving into the listed building, she has tended a flower border by her front wall
A petition has now been launched after the council sent a letter to 92-year-old Mrs Peppert requesting that she remove it – or they will
‘That piece of land is not owned by Rose Cottage,’ he said.
‘They took us to court and it cost £25,000 of taxpayer’s money to defend litigation taken against us.’
He said they took a ‘step back’ and as a parish council chose not to enforce the ruling as long as the feature was kept close to the wall.
‘Other people have pots and as long as it’s in the boundary of your step we will be tolerant,’ he said.
‘As we are going to build a children’s play area he has started to make his garden bigger to block the tracks.
‘He can’t accept they bought a house without a front garden.’