Trevor Hankins standing in front of the now-hedgeless gardens

HEDGES that have provided a green lung to an estate for half a century have been chopped down “because of health and safety”, says a tenants’ leader.

The hedges were removed five months ago from the gardens of Guinness Court in Lever Street, Finsbury, after the estate’s landlord, the Guinness Partnership, said the shrubbery had to go.

Tenants said that historically caretakers had come through residents’ homes to cut the hedges from inside people’s gardens.

But in 2022 caretakers were ordered to stop trimming the hedges because of the access issue.

“They were up to about here,” said tenants’ leader Trevor Hankins, pointing to his chest to demonstrate the height of the now-missing bushes.

“They were perfectly trimmed inside and out. They looked lovely. They also added a protection so people couldn’t just jump over and they gave privacy to the people living in there.

“And they were taken away, in my opinion, for absolutely no reason at all.”

Mr Hankins has been chair of the tenants’ and residents’ association for 33 years and chaired the London Federation of Guinness Trust’s tenant association for seven, after moving to the estate with his wife and family in 1981.

“So for 46 years there was nothing wrong, and then all of a sudden you can’t go through the person’s property because of health and safety,” he said. “We know the background to this is nothing to do with health and safety. We know it’s to do with limited staff availability.”

Mr Hankins says the hedge crisis is representative of a wider problem of the landlord spending less on it and the disrepair is starting to show.

Tenants said other jobs are also being missed, such as lights not being changed in corridors and gutters not being cleared, leaving wastewater to gush over the sides and down the estate walls.

Some flats have suffered from mice infestations too, while he claimed problems with drugs are not being addressed.

“There is a big problem with Guinness – they’re not running their estates properly and something has to change,” he said, adding that similar problems existed in housing estates across Islington.

The Guinness Partnership – set up by a descendent of the famous brewery – defended its decision to remove the hedges after they became “unstable” and “fell into a resident’s garden” and said it had not found any evidence of drug use, but urged residents to report it.

Its statement said: “An agreed solution for fencing was arrived at in January 2024, following engagement with residents. The local authority confirmed in February that planning permission for the fencing is required, and our application is due to be submitted imminently. We have engaged with residents throughout.”

He added they would consult on introducing CCTV.