Strike a light!

ALL marked out . . . Melvyn with the position of the street light on what he thought was his front garden

Shocked householder takes dim view of lamp post plan
AN angry householder is taking a dim view of Oldham Council’s plan to put a new lamp post outside his house... in the middle of his front lawn.

Melvyn Hargreaves (60) returned from work to find a white spot painted on the grass outside his home in Bramblewood, Chadderton.

Mr Hargreaves was even more shocked to find the garden he has lovingly tended since moving in 14 yars ago isn’t all his, but partly a service strip — a boundary technically part of the adopted highway.

“I have maintained this land as my own front lawn but now I find out it’s not completely mine,” he fumed.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the white mark in the front lawn — it looks like the penalty spot on a football pitch. One day I’m expecting to come back from work and the lamp-post will be there.

“We have had no consultation that this could happen. They are just going to go ahead with it.”

Mr Hargreaves, who works at Manchester Royal Infirmary, added: “There seems to be nothing I can do —but surely there are better places to put the lamp post.”

An E-ON spokeswoman said: “We’re aware of Mr Hargreaves’ concerns and have already been in contact with him. The street lights we’re installing fall within the service strip area of the highway, as agreed with the local council.”

The service strips usually have electricity and telephone cables and water and gas pipes running underneath, and are typically grass verges between the road and the house boundary, which would be outlined in the property deeds. Though residents aren’t prevented from treating this boundary strip as their garden, in fact they have no rights over it and a contractor has no obligation to restore anything a householder might have done to it if underground work is required.

Since Oldham Council teamed up with E-ON to replace all the lamp-posts in the borough last year, there have been several complaints.