Celia Aherne with one of her trophies for brightening up her estate

A NINE-TIME winner of Camden in Bloom award has been ordered to remove her celebrated flower display after it was judged to be a fire hazard. Celia Aherne, who has terminal cancer, wants council officials to call off the removal of her award-scooping balcony plant pots and hanging baskets tomorrow (Friday) – which is also her 74th birthday.

The Town Hall has in the past encouraged green-fingered tenants to spruce up estates with floral displays as part of its annual competition which has repeatedly recognised Ms Aherne for tending to “Camden’s best balcony”.

But fire risk assessments now mean landings, walkways and balconies are being cleared of obstacles. As the New Journal reported earlier this month, ‘Take Me Away’ stickers have been stuck to plant pots across Camden’s estates and come with warning they “could catch fire or get in people’s way”.

Now the removal squad has reached Ms Aherne’s door at Penshurst estate in Queen’s Crescent, where she said she had lived for “for donkey’s years”.

She said: “It feels a bit two-faced because they have been encouraging tenants to improve our estates for years, and now they are ordering us to take it all down. I can see the logic of where they are coming from. I have a wheelchair myself and I know how awkward it can be to get around. But all my plant pots are on the balcony and properly fixed down.”

She added: “It’s just so sad to lose this because it makes such a big difference in a concrete jungle kind of place that we have here to have a bit of green around you.

“People don’t realise how much wildlife there is out there in Camden, and how much will come if you put out some the plants. The creatures I have seen over the years, they are beautiful. Wrens have made nests. The foxes come too, they know my name now.

“In 30 years of doing this I don’t remember a flicker of smoke coming from a plant pot. Really there are much more dangerous things happening here than plant pots. There are drug addicts and people dealing drugs all of the time. They are these little canisters all over the place. I wonder if those are a fire hazard?”

Ms Aherne, who worked on the tills in the Camden Town Marks & Spencer store and is originally from Cork in Ireland, has been moved from the Royal Free to the Finchley Memorial Hospital, next to the East Finchley Cemetery.

“You couldn’t make it up… there’s a big graveyard just next door,” she said. “I have been told the liver cancer is not curable. What they are doing is just prolonging life really. I’ve also had arthritis recently develop.”

The pink notices which have been appearing all around Camden and, below, Ms Aherne wins again and celebrates with Suggs

Ms Aherne – who has her family looking after her – said she had overall enjoyed living in Camden and praised her supportive neighbours. She said that during Ramadan she didn’t need to buy any food due to “lovely people” bringing around meals for her “from morning till night”.

The annual Camden in Bloom competition was set up to recognise gardening work done by residents, business and community groups. Ms Aherne said she had not been well enough to enter her display for the past two years as she could no longer get up and down a ladder to add in her colourful petunias and “busy lizzies”.

One of her old displays and, below, another certificate from the council

When the New Journal dropped round on Tuesday, she brought out photos of her with various Camden mayors and certificates signed by celebrities including funny man Jon Culshaw, marathon legend David Bedford and Madness singer, Suggs. She said: “I don’t know if I’m just feeling dramatic, but it just feels like everything is happening to me at once. I wanted to try and do something about this while I’ve still got a bit of fightback in me.”

Housing chief Councillor Meric Apak said: “We want to achieve the highest standard of fire safety in our residents’ housing – and we need our residents’ help to ensure areas like balconies remain tidy and free from combustible items.

“However, providing the area is safe, we take a pragmatic approach and plants can remain in earthenware or metal containers, providing they are not causing obstruction – in this case, we will arrange to visit the resident to discuss the situation and see what can stay and what will need to be removed if not safe.”