The wall adjoining Jubilee Park had been “weighed down” by ivy growth on the park side that had been left unchecked, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

An Edmonton resident is demanding Enfield Council replace a collapsed wall which leaves her garden exposed to a public park.

The wall between Guzin Hakki’s garden and Jubilee Park collapsed in September during bad weather despite Guzin’s insistence that she had been maintaining it on her side.

But persistent ivy growth on the park side of the wall had weakened the structure, which Guzin blames for its collapse. She said she’d been warning the council about the “damage” caused by the ivy for four years.

Rose Hakki, Guzin’s daughter, explained that her mother’s garden is now open to the park. 

She said: “I’m obviously worried because she’s in her 70s, she’s quite vulnerable, and anyone can see into her property. So I’ve been chasing the council up as well for them to make the wall safe.”

The council put temporary fencing around the gap a couple weeks after the collapse, but Rose said her mother felt like “a bit of a prisoner”.

“My mother’s always maintained the wall from her side, so when you looked at it from her garden you didn’t see anything apart from at the top where you could see the ivy growing from the park side. 

“She reported it to the council several times saying, look, you need to cut it and remove it, she’s been chasing it up for years and then she noticed the wall started to lean towards the park.

“She reported it again and she just gets people forwarding her emails to people. No-one is taking accountability for it.”

Before the wall collapsed, Guzin took out an insurance claim against the council to cover repairs as the ivy growth and the leaning had begun to damage a shed in her garden.

The council’s insurers told her to wait three months for the council to respond but this period has now passed and there’s been “nothing”. 

Rose added: “If they’d fixed it before, it might have saved the wall. If they’d poisoned the ivy or repaired the wall earlier we wouldn’t be in this situation now, we wouldn’t have to waste time putting Heras fencing in.”

The neighbour’s walls are also being weighed down by the ivy and Rose believes they “will also collapse” in future if nothing is done because of the “domino effect”.

She said this presented a “risk” to an area of park used by children.

Update (18th November):

In response to enquiries a council spokesperson said: “Enfield Council has cordoned off the small section of the park affected by the wall so that it is safe and secure.  We are working closely with the resident to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”

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