Estate residents furious after garden planted by former resident who died of Covid-19 stolen

Residents of a South London estate were left furious after intruders pinched plants from their communal garden.

Strangers flocked to the Bolney Meadow Estate in Lambeth over the weekend and started taking away locals’ potted plants – including expensive olive trees.

They told residents the plants had been advertised as free to take on social media.

Locals begged intruders to return the plants which are part of a communal garden set-up by a former resident of the estate who died last year.

But they say their pleas fell on deaf ears and the strangers instead launched foul-mouthed abuse at them.

Locals have now taken to guarding the remaining plants from dusk to dawn in a bid to stop more plants being nabbed.

Audrey Lewin, who has lived on the estate in Stockwell for 20 years, said people started turning up with vans to take the plants away on Friday evening.

She said: “It was a free for all. At about 6:30pm my neighbour said look outside and there were people in vans and cars loading up their vehicles with plants.

“I came outside and said to one woman ‘excuse me what are you doing?’ She literally had the plant in the back of her van. I told her to get out. I said ‘get out of our community and don’t come back.’

“It was non-stop. We asked where people were coming from and it was all over the borough – Kennington, Clapham and closer from roads nearby.

“Some of them swore at us when we told them to give the plants back. I’ve been here since 10am with other residents and I’ll stay all day to protect  the garden.”

Strangers turned up at the estate throughout the weekend from 8am to 10pm with the aim of getting their hands on plants.

Drivers came back as many as five times, according to locals.

Some visitors told residents they had received a message through a local email group telling them to collect the plants.

The estate garden was planted by former resident, David Sieferhi, 59, who died of Covid-19 last September.

Since his death locals have looked after the plants themselves, donating money when they can to maintain the garden.

Mum Cristiana Macedo, who has lived on the estate for six years, said the garden had been spoilt by the intruders.

She said: “Can you imagine my kids coming down and seeing this? They would be so upset. They liked coming down here and playing. It’s very sad what has happened.”

Notting Hill Genesis, the housing association which manages the estate, said contractors arrived at Bolney Meadows at the end of last week to remove dead plants.

It said it was pausing the work until residents of the estate have been consulted.

A spokesperson for Notting Hill Genesis said: “We are keen to preserve David’s legacy at the same time as addressing the concerns of some residents about the number of pots and the fact that many of the plants have died or become overgrown with weeds since David’s untimely death.  

“We spoke with David’s sister following his death and agreed that our garden maintenance contractors would tidy up and remove dead and failing plants in the first instance.

“We then intended to speak again with residents about potentially starting a gardening club to look after the remaining pots and plants once they had been reduced to a more manageable number. 

“Our contractors started that work at the end of last week at the same time as completing other gardening work, including trimming hedges and tidying up borders. There appears to have been a misunderstanding about the nature of the work, which led to the police being called. 

“They advised our contractors to leave. We have postponed any further tidying of David’s pots and plants until we have spoken again to those who live at Bolney Meadow and their resident and tenants association.”

Pictured top: Left to right, Cristiana Macedo, Nidia Freitas, Audrey Lewin, Dreenagh Lyle, Noemi Defossez and Ben Rymer (image: Robert Firth)