This is the man behind arguably the most beautiful garden in Preston. He has been ordered to destroy it.
AdvertisementJam Amani Rad spent £5,000 turning the communal gardens at his Housing Association property into a paradise.
He has been ordered to destroy the garden because he didn’t seek permission ahead of the transformation.
A petition to save the garden has gathered over 4,000 signatures so far.
Speaking to Yahoo! News, he said: “I wanted to create a thing of beauty and show that pensioners can make a positive contribution and don’t need to sit there watching TV all day.
“All my neighbours love it and have even signed a petition to keep it.”
Jam admits that he went further than he agreed to go with his renovation of the communal garden.
The housing association claim that they had an original agreement with Jam not to carry out any further changes on the garden which they would allow to remain.
A statement from Community Gateway Association said: “Recently some publications featured articles with headlines such as “Housing Association Orders OAP to flatten garden”. It has been alleged that Community Gateway Association (CGA) had demanded that one of our tenants, Mr Rad, “demolished and destroyed” renovation works he had completed to a communal garden at a property in Harrington Street, Preston.
“We would like to be clear that CGA has not “ordered” Mr Rad to flatten or destroy or demolish or level the garden as has been claimed. We have concerns over some electrical and structural risks that some of the alterations pose, however we have not in any conversation, demanded that the entire garden be “destroyed”, nor will we. We have been in ongoing discussions with Mr Rad to find a suitable compromise for all parties, as we have done on previous occasions.”
However over the last six months further changes have been made resulting in complaints from residents.
If you want to support Jam, sign the petition to preserve the garden here.