Katharine, right, and Catherine Hoskyns

A BEAUTIFUL streetside garden nurtured by older people and due to destroyed by city council officers has been issued a stay of execution, after the Extra stepped in.

Westminster City Council had issued a notice to 89-year-old retired teacher Katharine Hoskyns, demanding she remove a collection of pot plants and a bench she has cared for over more than 25 years, after a complaint by a new neighbour who claimed they encouraged anti-social behaviour in a quiet street in St John’s Wood.

But on Wednesday, after the Extra raised the issue with the council, officers said they are putting on hold enforcement action and are now looking again to check if Mrs Hoskyns’s collection of tomatoes, geraniums, and herbs are the cause of any trouble. It is hoped they will now withdraw an enforcement notice that would have seen the garden destroyed.

Hamilton Gardens is a cul-de-sac off Abbey Road, a stone’s throw from the studio where the Beatles recorded their work. Mrs Hoskyns has been there since the 1960s and has slowly added plants and a bench to a small stretch of pavement outside her home. The stretch leads nowhere but to her backdoor and has no passing pedestrians. She has maintained the pots with the help of her sister- in-law, Catherine Hoskyns, and they are much admired by neighbours, including the Abbey Road orchestra, who have given the street the nickname “The Pots”.’

Katharine, a retired teacher, said: “We are both keen gardeners and when Westminster Council put parking bays into the street, we wanted something to offset the cars and make it a little more beautiful. The pots are a mix of things, perennial flowers, geraniums, tomatoes, herbs. There is a grape vine that is doing rather well, and a bench.

“People gather there to say hello to neighbours. Parents with children sit for a while and older people use it. Ironically, it is a favoured spot for council workmen to pause and eat their lunches.”

The issue began when an anonymous complaint reached the desks of the council’s street team, and officers said the small collection of plants were an obstruction to the highway.

Residents fought back, rustling up a petition that has garnered more than 1,000 signatures so far.

Catherine, a retired university lecturer, said: “One neighbour, we believe, complained and claimed there had been anti-social behaviour and the spot was an obstruction.

“I am 91 years old and use a four-wheeled walker, the pots are not obstructing in any way and the council have installed CCTV to show that no anti-social behaviour takes place on that bench.”

An enforcement notice was issued under the highways act.

Katharine added: “It is such a waste of council officers’ time. They have an environmental policy to encourage soft edges, planting and greening streets.

“This garden does that, and has been there for 25 years at least and really isn’t bothering any one except the one neighbour.”

A letter to Katharine at the end of July from Westminster said they had received complaints from a “member of the local community” and that “…despite this matter being discussed with members of your family over a considerable period of time, with offers of help from the council, there has not been sufficient effort to remove the number of pots or remove the bench.”

The letter added that the council believed the row of pots and the bench could be dangerous, adding: “We had an example of a pot falling over recently… many of these items can fall over, particularly in severe weather and could potentially cause injury to users of the highway and damage to nearby parked vehicles. In addition, the bench has not been confirmed as structurally safe.”

The letter demanded removal within two weeks.

But after the Extra took up the case, the city said the garden could stay, for now.

A spokesperson said: “Following a series of resident complaints and attempts to resolve this dispute informally the council was, reluctantly, obliged to begin a formal process. We remain hopeful that we can resolve the situation amicably.”