Privet - no entry

A council official in Scarborough quite properly insisted that the owners of a privet hedge bordering West Street must cut it back to the boundary of their property.

Unfortunately for the owners, 40 years ago the hedge was planted too close to the street, so the surgery prescribed by the council involved cutting into old wood, rather than just trimming soft growth. This, I understand, cost the owners about £800, as they had to hire a specialist contractor.

The hedge looked awful for a few weeks, but it's greening up nicely now.

However, only 100 yards away is another property, bordered on three sides by a privet hedge. This one is even more intrusive onto the street, to the extent that people have to walk in single file.

The owners? Scarborough Borough Council.

The hedge borders the gardens in St Martin's Square, on which National Lottery money was recently lavished with the supposed intention of creating a wildlife garden.

As this plot has not, for the last few years, been used as anything more than a dogs' toilet, that's a laudable intention.

I do have to wonder whether any research was first done on the feasibility of attracting wildlife, as it remains devoid of any living creatures other than dogs and the people who occasionally pick up their deposits.