Mum’s fury as son and daughter are left in tears after jobsworth council chiefs BAN trampoline from their garden over ‘health and safety’ fears
Iwona Dynowski, 36, said her five-year-old daughter Hana and eight-year-old son Wojciech were devastated
A YOUNG brother and sister were left in tears after jobsworth council chiefs banned a trampoline from their garden over “health and safety” fears.
Iwona Dynowski, 36, said her five-year-old daughter Hana and eight-year-old son Wojciech were devastated when they were told to remove their favourite plaything.
Labour-run Norwich City Council declared the trampoline was among a string of items facing the axe from a block of flats in Lakenham, including garden gnomes and children’s toys.
Mrs Dynovska said: "Before we moved here we asked if this was a private garden and were told it was a garden for our use only.
"The trampoline has been here since we moved in over two years ago so we can't believe what's happening."
She said her kids burst into tears when they were told the trampoline would be taken away.
Furious tenants were warned by council workers that their gardens are now "communal areas" and cannot have "trip hazards".
Neighbour John Chewter, 65, said: "Every time there has been an inspection before there has been nothing wrong.
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"Their logic now is anybody could come from anywhere in the city, walk into their garden through a latched gate, use their trampoline, break their leg and sue the council."
One outraged resident, Francene Mayes, runner-up in the council's Good Neighbour awards last year, has also been told to take down a wooden shed in her garden.
She said: "The council is disrupting an entire block of people with this dictatorship.
"We are a proper community here."
Ms Mayes has put in 17 years of blood, sweat and hard toil to transform the outdoor space.
"This was a wilderness and the front was just bricks and rubble," said Ms Mayes.
"I'm now being told I am out of order.
"If they are now saying it is a communal garden then why have they not been maintaining it for the last 17 years?"
A council spokesman said officers are set to meet residents this week in a bid to discuss their concerns and sort out the row.
He said: "We are now working with residents to resolve any safety concerns and put appropriate permissions in place for permitted items, while ensuring all residents have equal access to shared space."
This is not the first time Norwich City Council has come under fire for bizarre health and safety rulings.
The authority was accused of being heavy-handed in 2014 when tenants were ordered to remove items from communal areas in flats.
Kerry Annison, 48, was told the flower pots around her home were a fire hazard before a last-minute change of heart by under-fire council staff.
Margaret Jowsey, 70, was instructed to remove a washing line in a communal area also deemed to be a fire hazard.