By KERRY MAGORIAN
SHOPKEEPERS say they are being neglected by the council as a road is divided over its floral displays.
Hanging baskets are supposed to bring a smile a face and a splash of colour to a street, but in Snakes Lane East, Woodford Green, it is a completely different story.
Traders in the road are angry that they seem to have been forgotten by Redbridge council, as they failed to receive any pretty plants this year, unlike their neighbours in Snakes Lane West.
The two roads are divided by the Central Line Underground, and although shops on both sides pay local amenity fees, those in Snakes Lane East say the hanging basket saga is causing a divide and making them look like 'the wrong side of the tracks.'
Val Martinelli of the Lunch 4 U Café, in Snakes Lane East, said: “All the shop keepers are upset over it.
“If you go to the other side of the station, they’ve got nice hanging baskets. It just seems really unfair.
“If they said there was no hanging baskets for anyone because they were cutting back then fair enough.
"But the other side is beautiful. We’re like the poor relatives over here.”
Gita Bacheta of Jubilee News added: “We’re not happy. It’s very unfair for us.
"We all pay the full rate as well yet we get nothing. We just want to know why we haven’t got them.”
Hina Patel who works in J. K. News, in Snakes Lane West, admitted Redbridge Council pay more attention to her side of the road.
She said: “There’s definitely a divide between the two sides.
“There are more people coming from the council to cut the grass and trim the hedges and make it look nice here.
“I don’t see that happening on Snakes Lane East. I don’t see people walking around to keep it clean.
"If they did it would make it look equal.”
Geoff Stimpson from Woodford Green Amenities Group said: "In the past there have been baskets on both sides as money we raised was matched by Redbridge but this year they say they don't have the money.
"One ones on the west side we have paid for."
"It seems a lot of people in area two are very anti hanging baskets.
A spokeswoman for the council said: “The hanging baskets on lamp columns at Snakes Lane West are organised by the Woodford Green Amenity Group and not Redbridge Council.
In the past, the group has applied for retrospective funding for hanging baskets at Snakes Lane through Area Two Committee.
They were provided with £1,856.50 towards hanging baskets from the Area Two discretionary budget at a meeting of the Committee on Tuesday 11 November 2008.
An application for this year was submitted to the council this week and is due to go to Area Two Committee on 21 July.
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