AN overgrown garden at Bramhope has brought cutting comments from parish councillors who fear it may have cost the village first place in the Britain in Bloom competition.

But the owner, John Bexon, says that the whole affair is a fuss over nothing and the garden will be altered and tidied up when his adjoining house is refurbished to be sold.

The garden, at Mr Bexon's house opposite The Knoll, has been the subject of discussion by Bramhope Parish Council, with some councillors resigning themselves to the fact that the garden is private land and nothing can be done, with others adamant that it is an eyesore that affects the village as a whole.

Feelings were running particularly high in the run-up to the summer judging of the village in the annual Britain in Bloom competition.Coun Richard Harker said: "I don't think we have a right to tell people how to keep their gardens."

But Coun Ralph Turner replied: "In view of the effort the rest of the village is making, I think we do. It is an absolute disgrace.

"Thirty years ago, if you lived in a corporation house and your garden was like that, you were evicted."

The village came second in the urban communities category, missing out on scooping the first place it had won the previous year by just two marks.

And councillors have become unhappy that no apparent improvements have taken place despite their requests.

At the latest meeting, Chairman Coun John Mordy said: "I think we should write and say the state of the garden is unfair on their neighbours and the village in general."

But Mr Bexon says that he plans to alter the shape of the garden (above) at the same time he

refurbishes the house .

Mr Bexon told the Wharfedale: "The whole shape of the garden is going to be altered and it is going to be totally refurbished. The house is going to be refurbished, with a slight extension and then it is going to be sold.

"I can't quite understand what all the fuss is about - there seems to have been an awful lot of fuss for no reason. It isn't as though it is in the middle of an estate and stands out more than others. You virtually have to stand at the gate to see it."

"It is quite a big garden and if I did it myself, it would take days and days and if I got a gardener in, it would cost a packet. The house itself does want quite a bit doing to it, so I am going to do the lot. In no time at all, it will be refurbished and on the market."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.