Green-fingered families will be banned from spreading smelly manure willy-nilly and placing plants in their gardens that overgrow into neighbouring properties or cover road signs.
New regulations for gardening have been approved to avoid violations of local bylaws.
The Muharraq Municipal Council has agreed on a set of rules for people who wish to grow plants and trees around their homes.
Council chairman Ghazi Al Murbati believes the new flower power regulations will offer a green solution and help avoid disputes.
Complaints
“The purpose of this idea is to encourage citizens and residents to garden, which helps area beautification efforts. We encourage it as long as the efforts are well regulated,” he told the GDN.
“Many people garden with good intentions but we have received several complaints from people saying that what’s being grown is in the wrong place, or covers part of another building. Officials come and remove the plants and fine those responsible and sometimes the offenders did not know they had done anything wrong.
“One of the key things being defined in these regulations is specifying the space where plants can be grown, how much space they can take up and to ensure the greenery does not block municipal signs or grow on lampposts.
“Another important thing is to ensure that the watering is carried out properly so it doesn’t pool up outside, by the road or in a neighbour’s plot,” he said.
The regulations which were approved unanimously specify that the garden plants can be no more than three metres tall and cannot extend 60 centimetres past an exterior property line.
However. for palm trees specifically, they must be within a square foot from the exterior property line while paying attention to the pavement, or the footpath if present, and each tree must be six metres apart.
The new regulations also state that people cannot plant anything on shared corridors between homes, or use manure for gardens that are on the outside of their property.
ghazi@gdn.com.bh
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