Mr Blyth, 28, of Wick Lane, Ardleigh, commissioned the display to promote a website for his company, the Boot Group, which runs car boot fairs off Old Ipswich Road, Ardleigh.It was the advert for his company, picked out in daffodil bulbs on a hillside. Pretty innovate, no? Who could possibly object?
Council officials originally ordered Robert Blyth to dig up 13,000 flowers planted on his land in Ardleigh claiming they amounted to illegal advertising.Oh. Right.
Now Tendring Council has backed down and apologised for demanding he remove his 150ft floral display.Wait, what?
Mr Blyth said: “I have not long been off the telephone to a senior enforcement officer who has decided the council would like to retract the enforcement action it was planning to take – and get the officer to write to us personally with sincere apologies.”This is pretty unprecedented!
Nigel Brown, Tendring Council's communications manager, confirmed officials had contacted Mr Blyth and apologised for the way it dealt with the matter.Wonders will never cease...
He said: “We have held our hands up and will not be pursuing this any further.”
9 comments:
I think maybe Tendring Council realised that their own actions might force them to bite off a lot more than they could comfortably chew ..
If this man had been prosecuted, or made to remove the Daffs .. then the Council would have been obliged to tread the same path with everyone who publicly advertises for sale, from their homes .. such things as "Free Range Eggs" .. "Fresh Veg" .. "Bedding Plants" etc ..
Backing down was a sensible bit of damage limitation by the Council ..
Or maybe they realised the Council was itself in widespread breach of the law with all those bedding plant displays that spell out the town name or Council logo ..
Incidentally, if you see a Council building flying a flag other than a recognised national flag or EU symbol, ask if they've got planning consent ...
@ Raedwald ..
Absolutely .. In the case of my local Council, they have boards on roundabouts, advertising certain Garden Centres & Landscape Gardening Firms ..
From which, I suspect the Council is harvesting revenue ..
Bet that's not exacly legal either ..
As for flags, your comment is particularly appropriate where the flying of that Rainbow coloured rag is concerned ..
Maybe it is something to do with the local elections in the district. The incumbant councillors may wish to be seen as the 'good guys' in respect of local businesses, rather than overbearing regulatory fuckwits.
TDC aren't that bad as councils go, but I bet plenty are shitting bricks at the thought of some major changes after may 5th.
We'll see what happens.
For his next display he can write "fuck off Tendring council"
In other news, Tendring Council have found some "efficiency savings" in the planning dept ... about equal to the cost of one planning officer with too much time on his hands.
Apparently a true tale from 1945:
"He (German POW) seemed like a lovely lad and made himself very busy sorting out the bulbs in the garden and we were so sad when he was transferred to a transit camp before repatriation. It was only when the daffodils emerged that we thought again - they spelled out "Heil Hitler..."
"For his next display he can write "fuck off Tendring council""
Classic :)
"Backing down was a sensible bit of damage limitation by the Council .."
Indeed, or as Raedwald points out with regard to it's own floral displays, a can of worms they'd rather not open...
"As for flags, your comment is particularly appropriate where the flying of that Rainbow coloured rag is concerned .."
Quite!
"TDC aren't that bad as councils go, but I bet plenty are shitting bricks at the thought of some major changes after may 5th."
Let's hope so. Especially in Colchester!
"Apparently a true tale from 1945..."
Ah, that's one I really, really hope IS true!
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