Community garden destroyed by York council weed spraying

City of York Council bosses have apologised for the blunder and are offering to help recreate the garden.

But residents, who have spent the last four years creating the Diamond Street snicket, off Huntington Road, which boasted dozens of varieties of plants, said they were "absolutely devastated" by the destruction.

The snicket came out of an idea between neighbours Stephanie Holdsworth, 52, and Helena Simmons, 49, who wanted to tidy up their back alley after it had become a dumping ground for waste and used needles.

Over the course of four years, countless hours, and with donations of plants and planters from multiple community groups, the snicket had become a mini-beauty spot full of wildlife - with anti-social behaviour concerns and fly tipping a thing of the past.

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Before starting their garden, the pair say they contacted the emergency services and council to ensure that the plans did not create accessibility issues. They say they had previously talked with the council to make sure their alley was exempt from weed spraying.

“When you’ve created something like this and its destroyed, it’s just so sad,” said Helena.

At the time of the spraying, the neighbours had planned to do a full species count with around 50-60 varieties of plant life detected alongside various animals.

While not all plant life was destroyed by the spray, the remaining plants – including edible fruit - have been contaminated.

The garden pre weed spraying earlier this year (Image: Provided)

To add insult to injury, the residents were not informed that their garden had been sprayed – leading them to fear they had somehow caused all their plants to die until they found out what had actually happened.

Stephanie said: "My neighbour and myself are absolutely devastated by the destruction.

"I think it’s disgraceful, thoughtless and incompetent by York Council what they have done."

The garden after it had been sprayed by the City of York Council team. (Image: Provided)

James Gilchrist, director of environment, transport and planning at City of York Council, said: “Our crews work hard to manage and maintain public spaces across the city and unfortunately, on this occasion, an error was made, and the area was treated for weeds when that was not appropriate.

“We have issued an apology for the error and whilst we can’t undo what’s been done, we have been in touch with residents directly and offered to help them restore the garden.

“Taking good care of the environment is very much a collaborative job, and we are always happy to discuss with residents what part they can play. Anyone that’s interested in helping managing public spaces should get in touch with the council discuss how we can work together to help our city.”