Residents David Rushforth, Barbara Firth and Ian Morris in the remains of the garden (Picture: Blackpool Gazette/SWNS)
Residents on a Blackpool housing estate have been left unhappy after a team of contractors brought in to tidy up a communal garden left a scene of ‘devastation’.
The contractors used a strimmer to chop down plants, including flowers which had come into bloom on Molyneaux Drive, much to locals frustration.
Ian Morris has lived in the area for 23 years and blasted the contractors efforts calling it ‘vandalism’.
The 68-year-old said: ‘We pay £40 a year for ground maintenance and we just want the garden to be nice, it really means a lot to some of the residents here.
‘This group of young lads came in with strimmers and just mowed down the shrubs and the flower beds – and then just left it.
‘It seemed to me that they just had no idea what they were doing and it was as bad as actual vandalism.’
He added: ‘One of the people in charge of contracts told me they were fully qualified and were carrying out winter pruning.
‘I told him winter pruning is done back in November, not in spring when things are just starting to grow.
Resident Ian Morris with the remains of the garden which he says has been destroyed by the contracted grounds team (Picture: Blackpool Gazette/SWNS)
‘They need to come back and sort things out.’
Blackpool Coastal Housing, who own the estate, says the work needed doing as the garden had become neglected and overgrown.
They insist the contractors have plenty of experience in garden work.
John Donnellon, chief executive of the association, said: ‘Blackpool Coastal Housing maintain the green areas for the benefit of all its tenants and work with tenants on many areas together where tenants want to get involved in gardening projects.
‘In this case the resident that had previously taken on the care of this area has moved and the planting was neglected and overgrown and has been pruned back by our grounds maintenance contractors who are experienced in managing our green spaces.’
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‘It seemed to me that they just had no idea what they were doing and it was as bad as actual vandalism.’