Jul 2009 06

Consultation over door mat ban2

Nonsense to end all nonsense at Stoke on Trent City Council, as residents at council flats in the city will now be convening to discuss the ‘door mat’ ban with elected members.

It was reported a couple of weeks ago that the council had decided to ban door mats due to their Stokecclogo posing a ‘health and safety risk’. This caused a furore in the local and national press, and obviously with occupants who recognised the new rules as utter claptrap, dreamt up by bureaucrats who appear to reside on Button Moon, entirely detached from the real world and probably petrified of their own shadows.

Now, predictably, time, effort and money will be wasted raking over the finer details of the regulation which also specifies that pot plants, carpets and other personal items should be removed from porches lest they might prove obstructive during an emergency.

Button moon The council don’t, however, have any jurisdiction over the inside of the flats and whatever hurdles they may hold so the operation to create a clearance can only extend so far. It all seems so very pointless…

Isabella Hulme, aged 61, said: 'I had a hanging basket, a coffee table, a plant and carpet in my porch.
'I've had to remove it all and now the floor is left with carpet glue, which is even more of a trip hazard.'

Stoke on Trent City Council are exposed all too frequently for wasting their efforts on fads and silly rules like this when they should be focusing on providing services and value for money. It’ll be interesting to monitor just how long this rumbles on for and how far they’re prepared to push this petty rule which flies in the face of the common sense we’ve all grown up with.

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  • sharon spicer

    Well i think that this door mat ban is stupid and we are paying theses poeple to make up these ludicrous law’s.I think it’s about time we stopped being used as doormats ourselves and said enough is enough.

  • rt

    We’ve just been fined £40 by our management company for our doormat, which certainly isn’t a trip hazard and is only used by ourselves and our guests. As leaseholders with a share of the freehold of our flat, we didn’t even think they could charge us for reasonable use of our own porch! We did receive a warning letter, which we tried discussing with the management company but as we received no reply, we decided it couldn’t have been serious… we were wrong! I’d be interested to know what happened in this case in Stoke on Trent – did good sense win in the end?