Residents of Shropshire street named after famous gardener fight to stop developers bulldozing their gardens
Watch as development work is conducted at the back of gardens in Shropshire, with the company telling residents they’ve encroached on their land.
Green-fingered locals living on a street named after Shropshire's own Blue Peter gardener Percy Thrower are fighting to stop developers bulldozing their lawns and flowerbeds.
Residents on Percy Thrower Avenue in Bomere Heath, north of Shrewsbury, face losing a third of their back gardens, which many have tended to for decades.
Landowner Housing Plus Group is building 19 affordable homes on a field behind the properties.
The company claims around six residents have illegally encroached on their land and is now threatening to take it back.
The firm wrote to residents on May 21 giving them 28 days to clear their gardens “before taking action to remove the encroachment”.
The company claims the residents’ gardens have strayed beyond the legal boundary and onto land not belonging to them.
But residents say the developers are wrong and have lodged an appeal to temporarily stop the bulldozers.
Resident Alex Titley, 45, said the developers are demanding she gives up 2.5m (8.2ft) of her garden.
The mum-of-one, who has lived in her home for 20 years, said this would mean she would lose two trees and her beloved shed.
She said: “My garden is my sanctuary. It’s a peaceful place for me while I struggle to cope with my daughter’s health problems.
“The anxiety this has caused is unbelievable.
“To think these people think they can just wade in and demand a quarter of it when it is inside our registered boundary is absurd."
Neighbour Jonathan Kessel-Fell, 54, said: "We have been looking after the boundary, which is on their deeds, for 20 years.
"We're all in really busy jobs and our gardens are our sanctuary.
"The fences were due to be taken down any time from Wednesday [June 18] which is 28 days since the letters were sent.
“We’ve since been told by the developer that this won’t happen while the legal dispute is going on.
"We're not against the houses being built, we just want a conversation with the construction company and the landowner."
The site of the land dispute is just a mile from the family home of the late TV gardening legend Percy Thrower.
The star was considered Britain’s first celebrity gardener, appearing on dozens of TV shows including Blue Peter and BBC's Gardeners' World.
As Shrewsbury's parks superintendent, he shaped Shropshire's county town beautifully, and colourfully.
He died in 1988, but his daughter Margaret still lives in the family home in the village.
One local said: “It’s the cruellest of ironies that people living on a road named after Britain's most famous gardener may have to watch their own gardens being bulldozed for housing.
“It’s an absolute outrage and the developers should be utterly ashamed of themselves.”
The residents have hired solicitors Lanyon Bowdler, in nearby Shrewsbury, to help them save their gardens.
A spokesperson said: "The boundary fences have been there for 20 years.
“They are in the right place and even if they were not in 2004, over time they have become the boundary.”
A Housing Plus Group spokesperson said: "We are aware of the concerns raised by residents on Percy Thrower Avenue regarding the ongoing land issue.
"We understand that this situation has caused uncertainty, we will work with all parties to reach an amicable and fair resolution."
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