West Lothian council tenants who fill gardens with rubbish could be slapped with clearing bill

Council tenants who blight their neighbourhood with gardens filled with rubbish could find themselves footing a bill to have them cleared.

Bathgate’s housing manager Emma Ramsay assured councillors that her team was working hard to get the message across that scruffy overgrown and unkempt gardens were unacceptable to the council or neighbours.

Chair of the town’s Local Area Committee Harry Cartmill was joined by SNP councillor Willie Boyle in his appeal for action.

Councillor Cartmill reiterated calls he first made in 2022 for action, citing knee length grass, rubbish piled up and overgrown shrubbery in council gardens across the town.

He branded it ”an example of society de-evolving.”

This week, councillor Cartmill said that in a change from his youth, when the contest was for the best kept garden, it appeared that the contest was now “to find the worst kept.”

“I see it everywhere”, he told the meeting. “There’s nothing that brings our communities down at this time of year than garden not being looked after. You can see the obvious council properties.

“There are plethora of them, just lying a mess and there’s nothing that brings a community down more than that. Its my annual appeal. I know turning around the voids is more important, but this is the thing that people see and that people say to me about. It’s a thing that’s been a real depreciation for me.”

“This is in their tenancy agreements, you must be able to do something? Is it something your officers can look at, said councillor Cartmill.

Councillor Boyle said: “It is an issue and always has been, but some gardens now are just really ridiculous. It impacts strongly on the neighbours.”

Ms Ramsay told the meeting: “I agree with what you are saying. This is something our team is really starting to knuckle down on.”

She added that external issues with gardens could point to problems within tenanted homes which was being given attention.

She added that a case in Livingston had been progressed to a breach of tenancy because of the state of the garden.

She said: “We always give the tenant ample opportunity to change before we would intervene but that often falls on deaf ears. We would look at the work that we would need to do.

“We are trying our best. If there are specific addresses, please get in touch and we can have a look at them.”