Islington Tribune - News: Tenants say 'It's a jungle out there'

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN
Published: 11 May 2007

Tenants say ‘It’s a jungle out there’

TENANTS have seen their newly-landscaped estate in Holloway become overgrown during a wrangle over who should cut the grass.
The Tenants’ and Residents’ Association at the Lower Hilldrop estate raised £68,000 last year for a project which turned a muddy wasteground into beautiful parkland.
A string of emails seen by the Tribune shows staff at Homes for Islington (HfI) claim the growth of grass – now waist-high in places after being left uncut for nearly a year – to be a “defect” in the original design.
They maintain it should be included
under warranty by Groundwork, the regeneration organisation which carried out the landscaping.
Residents want the work to be carried out by HfI or Islington Council’s Greenspace team, but the Town Hall is refusing to budge.
HfI’s Natasha Gerald wrote in an email: “The project did not include one year’s maintenance with Groundworks (sic). Instead, it included one year’s defect period and therefore I would imagine these areas are not on Greenspaces’ (sic) contract for maintenance either.”
Thomas Cooper, vice chairman of the Lower Hilldrop Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (TRA), said: “It’s amazing that Homes for Islington are putting the work off because they say growing grass is a defect.
“I have worked in housing for a long time and know the difference between a defect, a snag and maintenance.”
TRA chairman Ron Ranger, a veteran caretaker, said: “This is a really nice estate and it’s such a shame the grass has been left like this.”
A spokeswoman for Groundwork said yesterday that the overgrown grass would be mown next week. She added: “There appears to have been a slight misunderstanding between the contractor and HfI, which appears to have been resolved.”

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment: