Help re: Peyia Municipality- plans to charge residents for clearing their land!

[fishbeardsunset]

Hi - There is an outside area of mainly fields, trees, (including a few carob trees) shrubs, weeds, wild grass etc...that backs directly on to the rear of our properties and is solely owned by Peyia Municipality. The whole land is probably about 5- 8 acres and It has been neglected for about the last two years and it now becoming a very serious fire risk.

With that in mind,I managed to get one of their engineers to come out to inspect the whole area, which is slowly becoming a bit like the Amazon Rain forest...and in some cases is spreading right up to the wooden fence panels..at the rear of the patios of the houses- including a few mini trees that have virtually pushed the panels inwards nearest the swimmimg pool..

The upshot of all this is, that the engineer has said that the "neighbours" should do more to remove the "offending growth" themselves, because if the Council cut back any "material" nearest the owners fences (but on the Council's own land.)..then they will still make a charge...which I understand would be the resonsibility of the Landlord to pay, as we are renting the house. Also, two of the dwellings are unoccupied- so what would happen in that situation?

Has anyone heard about this, and if so could they ascertain exactly where the demacation lines would be in respect of whether a charge would be applicable if a person has tried to make some effort to cut some stuff back- which coincidentally I have tried to do- but it is a losing battle and I do not have any specialist cutting equipment. A hedge trimmer or flymo would just get damaged- as some of these roots are very thick.

I am of the opinion that due to financial constraints they have presumably decided to make this decison so as to provide a revenue steam, but I cannot get any information whatsoever.

If anyone can shed some light on the matter it would be appreciated.

[BOB Peyia]

The is an old boy who drives a yellow JCB and lives in Peyia, he is normally pottering around Peyia doing odd jobs and work for the municipal.

If you drop him ~50 euros he will scrap away a bucket width of the offending weed,shrubs etc. and will dump it in the middle of the the overgrowth

[Dominic]

Surely if it is council land the council have a duty to maintain it?

[trevnhil]

I am with Dominic, if it is Council Land it is up to them to clear it and remove the resulting rubbish, and to pay for it being done.
If I were you I would go and have a word with one of the Councillors. The name Linda LeBlanc (sp) comes to mind..

[WHL]

First ive ever heard of a council charging others to pay for cleaning their land, over here in the East our council, will clear private land and bill the owner, we have a field next to our house, and every year we ring the council to tell them its a hazard, they promptly turn up and clear the area, they then bill the owner, who lives in the UK,

[fishbeardsunset]

Thank you all for your comments- I must admit the engineer I spoke to was very "hard work" to deal with, and said that I should not keep phoning the Council up and neither had he even bothered to respond to my e-mail with multiple pictures of the state of the area- that I sent him last week. Whilst we were surveying the area on foot, I pointed to a Cyprus tree which was about 16 foot tall - completely dead, brown,- and dry as a bone and commented that it was a potential fire risk- and he did not even bat an eyelid.. My first conversation with him by phone he said that he only had two operatives and they were very "stretched" then when I phoned him again and said that all the fences are made of "wood" and are in danger of catching fire if the area caught alight-he said that we should not have purchased properties that were made of wood and in danger of catching fire!- until I told him that I did not buy but rent- and that they had been built about 15 years ago anyway!. I must admit I did have to tread very carefully as he became very animated and also said that the Council has just published a page on their website regarding this apparent new ruling or whatever... (that I could not find- probably in Greek anyway if it did exist). and reiterating his point again and again about the neighbours all "participating" and helping to clear the areas right in front of their fences... There is even a massive Carob tree with branches poking through my next door neighbour's fences (as they are slatted upright with gaps of about 4 inch spacing) and I cut them back with a saw about 10 days ago and showed him and tried to explain that to this idiot but he did not want to know- so you think.. you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.. I also think that it was because I was English that he didn't want to help anyway, but that is just my personal opinion- yet he was very rude and tried to twist things round to his point of view- consistently all the time. The only positive thing that he actually admitted to me was that he accepted that with all the encroachment of stuff coming right up to the pool area and rear of our properties that it was a "fire hazard" and he left with the vague promise of getting it "looked at" next week but gave me no confidence that it would definitely be treated as a priority- So we shall just have to wait and see

[Devil]

How to Win Friends and Influence People

[Chaddy]

All in all i think we will all agree that random tipping ( for want of a better word ) is a problem on the island..What ever the powers that be come up with to stop it it will get criticised by some....OK what is YOUR solution to solving the problem

[Dominic]

All in all i think we will all agree that random tipping ( for want of a better word ) is a problem on the island..What ever the powers that be come up with to stop it it will get criticised by some....OK what is YOUR solution to solving the problem

Did you mean to post this on this thread?

[Chaddy]

All in all i think we will all agree that random tipping ( for want of a better word ) is a problem on the island..What ever the powers that be come up with to stop it it will get criticised by some....OK what is YOUR solution to solving the problem

Did you mean to post this on this thread?

I thought it was about flytipping ( again for want of a better word ) ,,or have i had another senior moment

[trevnhil]

The original post starts...
"Hi - There is an outside area of mainly fields, trees, (including a few carob trees) shrubs, weeds, wild grass etc...that backs directly on to the rear of our properties and is solely owned by Peyia Municipality. The whole land is probably about 5- 8 acres and It has been neglected for about the last two years and it now becoming a very serious fire risk."

It has nothing to do with fly tipping is an overgrown green area that is dying down and will become a fire risk.
How the council can claim that it is not their problem amazes me

[BOB Peyia]

"How the council can claim that it is not their problem amazes me"

Its to do with the council itself being a closed shop when it come to all things Peyia. The masons are more open to outsiders than Peyia council is to expats.

[Lofos-Jan]

Tala council also clear the land and bill the owner if it poses a fire risk. Are you sure it is council owned and not the designated green area of your development (it which case it would be the owners’ responsibility to clear or pay). It seems bizarre that he would say you have to pay for green area that does not belong to your homes. If they refuse to clear it and it poses a fire risk - I would definitely take it further. Maybe as suggested start with Linda Le Blanc.

Good luck!

Jeanne

[fishbeardsunset]

- I would definitely take it further. Maybe as suggested start with Linda Le Blanc.

Good luck!

Jeanne

Hi, Thank you all for your further comments- I have tried contacting Linda on her 26 xxxx72 number but there is no reply so have left 2 messages on her Facebook page.. Regarding the actual land- It is definitely Peyia Municipality that own it, and the guy with the goats often grazes his animals there.
It is a walk through area for people that excercise their dogs at the rear of our properties. No actual building development on this land can be granted whatsoever either. I've taken loads of photos, but somehow cannot reduce the size to download them on this site (to 256KB) or at least they are so pixilated that you cannot look at them

[Dominic]

Reduce the dimensions. Max width or height is 1024 pixels.

[fishbeardsunset]

some pics sorry about resolution but having probs trying to reduce sizes!

[fishbeardsunset]

and one more

[Devil]

Can't tell for sure without a cadastral map, but I suggest either your house is where it shouldn't be or the boundary is further out than you think. You must have 3 m between the construction and the boundary and it does not look that way!

[Dominic]

If I lived in the house with that overgrowing Carob tree I would have chopped it down years ago.

[Lincoln]

If I lived there I would clear the area at the fence for at least three meter.