A homemade rooftop garden which aims to tackle anti-social behaviour and is a ‘haven for wildlife’ has been ordered to be taken down by a local council over health and safety fears.
Rob Wood, 53, built the Mediterranean roof garden at Broadsands Beach Watersports Centre in Paignton, Devon.
Rob, who has owned the space for 17 years, said it was a haven for wildlife and has even been deterring anti-social behaviour.
But Torbay Council, which leases the centre building site to Rob, said any modifications to leased buildings ‘must comply with planning, structural safety, and health and safety regulations.’
It says the roof garden was made without prior permission and could pose potential risks and it has ordered him to take it down.
Rob said previously the space was ‘really ugly, with a horrible wall’, and admitted ‘all it did was attract anti-social behaviour’.
He said: ‘We started just by planting a couple of nasturtium plants – I went to my go-to nasturtium plants that I used to plant with my nan when I was a young kid! So we began by planting plants – and it’s all just gone from there really!’
Rob planted the colourful flowers with his niece, Dolce, 3, as she spent one day a week helping her uncle during the winter.
He also received advice from local gardeners and plant cuttings to help him along the journey.
Rob said: ‘It’s health and safety gone mad! There is a thought process that has gone into what we have done here.
‘I’m devastated. We poured our heart and soul into this just for us to be told to take it down. Kids were drinking cider – all that kind of stuff, it was always awash with beer cans on a Sunday morning.
‘I just want to try and find some compromise – and we are hoping common sense will prevail. What I didn’t like was the blanket “get rid of it”, why not have a bit of compromise? We are hoping we won’t have to get rid of all of it.
‘Every day, I am bombarded with compliments about it. There’s always someone looking at it, always someone taking photos, people taking videos.
‘If they have an issue with it, why can’t they come and say “can we do this instead?”‘
Rob says since he started building the garden back in March there has been a drop in anti-social behaviour there.
He described the final project as an ‘eclectic array of a bit of everything that just looks nice and has had a really positive impact.’
Rob said tourists and locals love it, and says the general consensus amidst the community is to ‘not give up’ and ‘keep on fighting’ to save their garden from the council’s ordered demolition.
The team have taken onboard some of the council’s recommendations to improve safety, including installing a no access sign, taking away a table and chairs so people won’t come up but can see the garden from the ground.
Rob said he was visited by a member of Torbay Council on August 19 and was told there had been ‘a number of complaints.’
Broadsands Beach Watersports Centre have not received a formal enforcement notice yet just a request to remove the garden.
A Torbay Council spokesperson said: ‘We acknowledge the efforts of a tenant on our property who has constructed a roof garden without prior permission.
‘While we appreciate Mr Wood’s positive intentions, it is crucial to emphasise that any modifications to leased properties must comply with planning, structural safety, and health and safety regulations.’
They added that it was ‘never’ their intention to limit ‘initiatives for things such as gardens’, but ‘as a responsible authority, we must ensure that all additions to our properties are safe and compliant with structural safety and health and safety regulations.’
Allowing unapproved modifications which deviated from lease conditions ‘could pose potential risks to Mr Wood, the area, and all users of that area’, they said, adding that the council hoped to ‘resolve this matter amicably.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
