Garden Tidy

TIDIER GARDENS - OR NOT?

4th October 2006 -- Earlier this year North Ayrshire Council ended their free Garden Tidy service for elderly and disabled people.  29 ANCHO tenants and 11 owners in ANCHO estates were affected and ANCHO decided to see whether it was possible to offer a similar service to these owners and tenants. 

ANCHO linked up with the Community Employment in the Community project, Equip, who provided a trainee to ANCHO’s gardening contractor, Bankhead Landscapes.  This enabled the cost at which the service could be offered to tenants to be subsidised.

All those tenants who had formerly been on the Council’s Garden Tidy scheme were offered an initial free cut of their grass, and invited to continue with the scheme at a cost of £10 (plus VAT) per cut.  Hedge cutting and other gardening work was available as a separate service.  Owners were also invited to take up the scheme on the same terms. 

The cost equates to £1.70 per week, and tenants are able to pay that along with their rent, at £7.00 per month.  However, this charge is not covered by Housing Benefit, and therefore tenants need to meet the whole cost from their own resources.

Disappointingly, only three tenants (and no owners) have chosen to take up the scheme.  Director Elaine Gibson said, ‘We understand that people used to get this service free, and now we are asking them to pay.  We also understand that people on low incomes may struggle to pay – that is why we tried to keep the cost of the service we are offering as low as possible.  At the same time, we provided an opportunity for employment and training within the community.  Unfortunately, it was just not an option for us to provide a free service.’

She continued, ‘If tenants have found another way of keeping their gardens tidy, then fine.  We are worried, however, that many tenants will simply allow the condition of their garden to deteriorate.  If this happens, as their landlord, we will be forced to take action – this usually means that eventually, we will do the garden for them and charge them for the work.  But this is likely to cost a lot more than the service we are currently offering.  We would like people to reconsider our scheme.  We can also offer the service to other interested tenants (i.e. those not elderly or disabled) next season, at the same cost.’

Any ANCHO tenant (or owner in an ANCHO estate) who would be interested in taking up the scheme should contact ANCHO on 01294 313121 or by e-mail mail@ancho.co.uk.