A DEFIANT 81-year-old gran has today posed in her bikini as she vowed not to give into council threats after they threatened to ban it.

Ex-model Kay Crane was given an order preventing her from wearing the swimming costume in her garden, claiming it was in view of children from a nearby nursery.

Kathleen Crane, 81, poses in her bikini after being threatened with legal action Credit: Steve Allen

The "nuisance notice" issued last November was one of 20,000 handed out by cash-strapped councils across the UK over the last five years.

Kay was banned from wearing a bikini inside her home - if near windows.

She and partner Dennis Woolf, 84, were also told they couldn't play loud music, or watch or shout at the children at the adjoining nursery to her house in Stockport in Greater Manchester.

But the gran today posed in her bright bikini, saying: "I don’t understand why I can’t wear a bikini in my own garden."

She added: "It’s not like I wear it all the time - just when the weather is really hot.

"I think the council are just trying to bully us. They’re just trying to ride roughshod over us because they don’t care about older people.

"But it won’t stop me wearing my bikini."

Kay, who used to model for fashion houses, says the dispute with the council began last May when she was given a Community Protection Notice (CPN), a new-style of Asbo (anti-social behaviour order).

That was later withdrawn but the council took her to court and she had to give a general undertaking not to engage in behaviour which caused “harassment, alarm or distress”.

But she denied shouting at the children and claims she only listened to talkSPORT on her radio in the back garden.

She said: "I don’t think any of the children were upset by my bikini. Young children don’t care what you wear.

"What if was on a beach? Would children get upset there too?"

In April the council wrote to her saying if she continued to breach the undertaking, which is in force until 21 December, they would begin committal proceedings in court.

Committal proceedings involve charges of contempt of court and anyone found to be in contempt can be sent to prison for two months.

What century are we living in for goodness sake? Kay Crane

Kay insists the dispute stems from the nursery’s decision to expand and build a car-park at the back of her home.

She claims the nursery decided to turn the car park into an adventure playground but the owners are still waiting for retrospective planning approval.

She added: "They cut down lots of trees and plants and made a real mess when they did the building work.

"I can’t understand they are getting upset about me in my bikini after everything we put up with.

"What century are we living in for goodness sake?"

A spokesman for the council said the case had caused a "great deal of alarm and distress" to the kids at the nursery.

They said: "We have tried to work with Ms Crane as much as possible, and whilst wearing a bikini is not a breach of the undertaking agreed in court, staring at the children, shouting at the children and watching the children playing whilst wearing a bikini in full view are some of the repeated behaviours that have caused concern and are classed as a breach of the undertaking."

NUISANCE NOTICES

The number of notices - dubbed a “busybodies charter” - have increased by 58 per cent from 3,943 in 2014/15 to 6,243 in 2017/18, according to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

They can be handed out for anti-social behaviour by council or police officers.

Violating the order is punishable by on-the-spot fines of £100 or if taken to court a fine of up to £2,500. Councils retain the fine revenue.

Ten councils issued Community Protection Notices against people feeding birds, and one took action against a resident who put up cat deterrents to stop the pets fouling their house or harassing birdlife.

Another woman, Estelle, who had kept free range chickens for seven years on her rural smallholding in Gloucestershire without complaint, got a CPN warning ordering her to keep them in a pen, following a complaint from a neighbour.

Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Club who sent the FOIs, said: "At least Asbos had to go through court and you had a right to a defence. These new orders are a scandal in comparison - you can be issued with a legal order by a 'town centre warden' filling in a form.

“These powers need to be urgently reviewed, and drastic changes made, to avoid further injustice and innocent people being penalised.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Anti-social behaviour harms communities and can severely impact people’s way of life, which is why we have reformed the tools and powers available to tackle it.

“There is a clear legal test for issuing a Community Protection Notice, and our statutory guidance highlights that agencies should have sufficient evidence to satisfy themselves that the behaviour in question is genuinely having a detrimental effect on others’ quality of life, rather than being a behaviour that others may just find annoying.”

The bold granny grins as she poses in a bright bikini Credit: Steve Allen

The former model said she had felt bullied by the threat of an ASBO Credit: Steve Allen

Kay said she thought the council were just trying to bully her Credit: Steve Allen

She said she only wore the bikini in hot weather Credit: Steve Allen

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