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Gnomes banned by elf and safety!
Monday 30th November 2009, 11:30AM GMT.
A pair of friendly gnomes have been banned from a block of Black Country flats under strict new health and safety rules.
Linda Langford has also been told to remove her ‘welcome’ plaque on the grounds it is a fire risk. Sandwell Council insists it is ‘common sense’ to ban the gnomes and a senior councillor defended the move as potentially ‘life-saving’.
The pottery gnomes – one hitting an anvil and the other reading a book – have been outside Miss Langford’s flat in Sedgley Road West, Tipton, since she moved in nine years ago.
An ornamental tortoise on her window sill must also be taken down.
Miss Langford, aged 57, was outraged after receiving a letter asking her to take away a doormat, the two six-inch gnomes, and her ‘welcome’ plaque.
Linda, who works as an assembler at hardware manufacturer Simonswerk in Tipton, said: “These things make the flats more welcoming and homely. What are we supposed to do now we have no door mats? Just traipse in the rain and snow?”
She added: “All we are trying to do is make our environment a bit better. Nothing in that landing is blocking the exits.”
But Sandwell’s housing boss Councillor Mahboob Hussain said: “I have received complaints about items blocking communal areas and I have visited flats to look at the problem.
“I’ve seen people blocking hallways in a manner that is just not acceptable. I’ve seen chests of drawers on landings and plants on staircases. This is about fire regulations. We have to use common sense. If it helps to save one life, it’s worth it.”
Families in flats managed by Sandwell Homes have been told to remove the objects in a move which will affect around 2,868 people in 56 blocks of flats. Similar rules have caused uproar inWolverhampton.
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Well of course a small gnome and a welcome plaque on the WALL are going to block exits. We all know how these gnomes can spring to life and grab on to your leg as you walk past. Councillor Mahboob Hussain has only mentioned people, chest of drawers and plants blocking the stairways he does not mention the danger of a little gnome on your doorstep nor a plaque on a wall, I wonder if this is because they aren’t hurting anyone even if there is a fire.
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Since when did Sandwell mbc have any common sense?
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what ever next? can’t lose a dog off the lead, can’t feed the ducks, now you can’t have door mats and gnomes.our way of life is being eaten away by these councils.
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we have soldiers dodging bullets and our councillors are worried about gnomes lol
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No wonder this country in a mess, when we see how Councillors fill their days. Maybe be they should get some proper work done & stop telling people what they can’t do.
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…and the moment there is a fire, where loss of life results from a delay in exiting,caused by obstructions – the whingers and whiners will complain that the council did not make efforts to ensure the safety of its tenants. They either allow clutter or they do not allow clutter. And, ultimately, as the landlord they are entitled to stipulate what is, and what is not allowed. If you don’t like it – buy your own house.
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Is this a request from the fire service? I’d like to hear what they have to say. What exactly is going to set fire to her welcome sign? This is the 2nd story of merit mentioning “senior councillor” Hussain within a week. The other being the duck feeding saga.
Is there another side to this story, because Sandwell MBC here is the ideal platform for you to fight back!
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John-I agree up to a point but what caused the loss of lives in the flats recently down London? It certainly wasn’t clutter. In fact it was lack of fire escape exits built into the flats. Thats where Sandwell councillors need to look more closely at.
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Since when did a gnomes look like “chests of drawers”, Councillor Mahboob Hussain? You know what I think..I think that yet again, at this time of year, I’ve been given an example of how crass, uncaring and hypocritical this place is made to look.
We had a new Council leader recently..I suggest we don’t stop there.
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Oh and just to point out, I am not John #1, I’m John #2. I don’t share #1′s views on this issue. People have been putting gnomes outside houses for years..how many have been killed as a result. And #1, I really do not like the attitude of, ‘if you don’t like it, buy your way out’. That’s not the kind of system my family went through two world wars for.
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If you don’t like the Council’s rules, buy your own freehold property and then you can have whatever you want outside your front door
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That mat she is standing on looks the most dangerous thing there. Quick, ban mats – you could slip, fall and spear your head on a gnome and a plaque fall on your head. Is it April 1st all year round for this council??
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There’s no place like gnome….
There’s no place like gnome….
There’s no place like gnome….
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sarah 11 the way things are going in this country you might find your insurance void if you own your own house and you trip over a gnome
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Hussain could also try and ban mats outside private residents’ homes..”If it helps to save one life, it’s worth it.” Or is he suggesting private home owners aren’t worth saving? Hmm. I also see a lot of people wiping their feet outside 10 Downing Street.
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JOHN#2 Private home owners can’t sue the council for compo. Thats probably what it’s all about in the long term. H&S garbidge gone too far again. You won’t be able to cross the road by yourself soon!!
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How do you know they are friendly…
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John are you saying there is a potential danger caused by people putting items outside their doorways?
Simple answer put white lines on the area that is to be kept clear, problem solved!!!!!!
Now Councillor Mahboob Hussain, you have identified a possible fire risk to residents, so when are you going to install sprinkler systems on the walkways, to remove the danger of smoke and fire to your residents?
Councillor Mahboob Hussain , you have proclaimed in public that you have knowledge that this danger exists, in the event that you fail to remove the risk to inhabitants housed in those apartments, I.E. by installing a sprinkler system you can be held responsible for anyone killed or injured.
I find this rather confusing, the fact that Councillor Mahboob Hussain should see a danger in people having dwarfs outside their doorways, Councillor Mahboob Hussain please answer me the question, all over the borough Sandwell’s Labour Council are deliberately putting obstructions in the roads to obstruct motorists driving along a road, Bearwood Road is a typical example, so a gnome is a danger that has got to be removed, but extending the footpath out into the middle of the road where a vehicle could drive into it isn’t??????
What do you expect from people that built The Public??????
Jim of Bearwood
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Common sense would suggest that IF these items really were hazards, then wouldn’t we be seeing the results a long time ago? What next: Christmas wreaths on doors..crosses..the Virgin Mary..wooden gates..cats sleeping the afternoon off or other seemingly easy targets?!
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hOW MUCH DO THE RATE-PAYERS CONTRIBUTE TO THESE IDIOTS WAGES.MOVE YOUR MAT?MOVE YOUR GNOMES?DON`T FEED THE DUCKS?GOD HEL US.–VE HAFF VAYS OF MAKING YOU TALK.YOU MUST OBEY.SANDWELL COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN.
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Sarah, your comment “If you don’t like the Council’s rules, buy your own freehold property and then you can have whatever you want outside your front door” how about this for a radical idea, we elect councillors into council then those councillors actually provide the services that the residents are paying for?????
Councillor Mahboob Hussain is not interested in providing services to the people he was elected to serve; Councillor Mahboob Hussain is only interested in penalising people!!!! Unless he can wield his power over people and financially penalise them he isn’t interested in doing anything else.
The only time Councillor Mahboob Hussain wants to get involved in anything is when he can bring down the big stick on Sandwell residents to keep them in line.
He was the one who wanted to have spy camera cars parked up outside schools, to fine parents who parked there to drop their children off, see : “SANDWELL COUNCIL HAD DRAWN UP PLANS TO BUY OR LEASE A £15,000 VEHICLE” he got it wrong again and couldn’t legally do it, once he realised he couldn’t raise money from the fines it would have generated, he lost interest in the children’s safety around the schools and nothing else was done, that’s strange he was all for protecting the children from danger but once he realised he couldn’t make any money out of the scheme, their safety didn’t seem to matter and the scheme was dropped.
Recently COUNCILLOR MAHBOOB HUSSAIN defended a fine imposed on a young mum, Vanessa Miss Kelly, for dropping bread, claiming it attracts rats, her son was feeding the ducks when a warden issued her with a £75 fixed penalty ticket, he got it wrong again and the fine was dropped.
Sandwell Labour Council don’t see their job as supplying services to the community, they are just there to punish residents at every opportunity.
Oh and to collect their Council Taxpayer provided pensions, see below.
“Taxpayers are paying into pensions for councillors across the region, the Express & Star can reveal.
Elected politicians at town halls are taking advantage of a special pension scheme to give them handouts after they retire.
The pensions, are funded by taxpayers and are handed out on top of any pensions they might have for full-time jobs. There are 119 councillors across the region in the scheme, including Birmingham City Council which tops the league with 48.
Sandwell is second place with 21”
“But Mark Wallace, from the Taxpayers Alliance, said: “I don’t think it is justified for any councillor to be taking out a pension at our expense”
“These people are supposed to be public servants, not careerists with pensions the envy of the private sector, It’s a disgrace”
Jim of Bearwood.
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Councilor Mahboob You need to listen to Jim G. Sprinklers and proper fire escapes, not stupid gnomes and mats to wipe your feet on.
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If Councillor Mahboob Hussain has so much time on his hands that he can look for gnomes and so on, perhaps he can find time to come over to Green Lane in Great Barr to sort out access for his own council’s refuse collectors. Time to get your priorities right councillor-but of course we’re not Labour over here are we?
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What a load of rubbish. There is a saying at the fire service college that there is nothing more inert than the manufacture of Gnomes. If the argument of the council is that they present a trip hazard then who will trip over them. I would imagine that there is a stay put policy in force in the flats so nobody is evacuating in a fire anyway. The welcome sign removal is to prevent a fire spreading along the corridor(rate of surface spread)but again the sign look like it is metal. the carpet looks more worrying, but that is of course flame retardent.
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The gnome reading a book is reading the health and safety rules to the gnome hitting an anvil because he is not wearing his safety equipment, his safety goggles and gloves. The work area should also be cordened off and men at work notices put up.
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This is quite extraordinary. This Hussain character has got some nerve talking about common sense, this guy seems to not have any sense at all. Since when did a six inch gnome resemble a chest of drawers. Good grief!! I’d heard that health and safety in the UK had gotten silly but this is way past silly. Thanks for the laugh anyway, I’ll pass the story around my friends here in Canada, they’ll think it’s silly too.
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Think this should be referred to the GNOME OFFICE.
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Same thing happening in Wolverhampton where refurbs have been done on Council properties. It’s not acceptable to have a doormat yet perfectly OK to have landings blocked with builders’ paraphernalia. I was requested to remove a wire waste-basket from my landing as it was a fire-hazard. Mad.
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When the Council become the Police, BEWARE ! They won’t need ‘evidence’, ‘witnesses’ or any proof. If they say so, YOU DID IT ! I’m old enough to remember a bloke named Adolf and another named Joe who had similar standards. You still have a secret vote. USE IT !
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It’s almost as though I’m expecting the ‘Minister for Silly Walks’ to come marching down the garden path, implying I should stop breathing on account of my oxygen being a fire hazard, or causing global warming! seriously, do these people have nothing better to do with their time, than to harass traditional English customs?
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i had a similar prob with sandwell i was told to remove plants neither me or my niebhours could believe it crazey or what?
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I have a feeling this is a little dictator in a large office with nothing else to do, with a title that is too large and too fancy to be anything worthwhile. It is time these councils were cleaned out of these unemployable dictators and decent, hardworking, honest, commonsense folk employed. Let’s have the name of this stupid person who believes that these small individuals can cause so many issues.
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I would have thought the amount of recycle boxes/bins we are going to be made to have would be more of an obstacle than a gnome?
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I would like to ask will the Council be writing to companies such as Thomson Local, Yellow pages, BT and catalouge companies to complain about their procedure of leaving their books lying on the doorsteps of homes. Isn’t this a Health and Safety issue?
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