Conservatives call for Council to bring back City in Bloom

A symbol of the Council’s neglect of the state of the City can be seen on the approach into Brighton by car.

For many residents and tourists arriving into Brighton, the gateway is the Patcham Roundabout at the junction of the A23 and A27.

Here there is a large purpose-built flowerbed next to the Patcham roundabout at the top of London Road.

For years this flowerbed used to spell out ‘Welcome to Brighton’ in colourful flowers during the summer months as a welcome to tourists, but today it lies bare and overgrown with weeds.

The Patcham roundabout itself has been left in a disgraceful state since 2016 when it was cleared of vegetation on safety grounds.  Despite several promises from the council it has never re-planted and today the roundabout lies in a mess with tyre tracks across the middle suggesting motorists are cutting over it, which isn’t safe at all.

A similar picture of neglect is seen further on down the London Road on the junction with Viaduct Road.  Here the council’s large communal planter boxes that jut into the road, which used to be full of plants, have been left to die by the city council.  No one is maintaining them and today they are full of weeds, cigarette ends and beer cans.  It’s bringing the area down.

In Hove, residents reacted with shock as the Council last month accidently mowed down a display of tulips as they were blooming on King George VI Avenue.  The Council apologised for the mistake but the damage had been done for another year.

As summer approaches many towns and cities across the country are putting their best foot forward in a bid to attract tourists and boost civic pride.  This should be an imperative for our City which relies upon an annual £886 million tourist industry and has small businesses desperate for a good season after the pandemic.

But the state of the City in summer seems to have dropped off the priority list for our Council.

The City used to have an annual City in Bloom Competition that boosted civic pride by encouraging plant displays across the City.  The competition was divided into different categories, including residents’ gardens, geographical areas, best streets, best shops and public houses, with an award ceremony at a seafront hotel each year.

City in Bloom was an inexpensive competition, just requiring a bit of coordination and leadership from the council.  The only expenses were producing application forms which were sent out and the awards ceremony itself.  A City in Bloom Committee of horticultural volunteers went around the city judging the displays.  The prizes were sponsored so the council didn’t have to pay for them.

The Labour/Green Council has let this event fold, and our local Horticultural Society is on the verge of extinction due to a lack of support from the Council.

The Conservatives are saying enough is enough.

Sign the petition to bring back an annual Brighton & Hove City in Bloom competition.

There can be no excuse from the Council for failing to maintain the flowerbeds in the city.

At Patcham Roundabout, funding has been in place for years to landscape and replant the roundabout but the council have failed to deliver this basic work. 

This year our Conservative Team even secured funding in the budget for some public artwork at the site to provide a tasteful welcome to Brighton but the Council has done nothing with this money.

The lack of attention to the state of the city is a symptom of a council that has lost its focus.

Labour and the Greens have spent 76% of their debating time at Brighton and Hove City Council raising national and international issues, for example indulging in motions on banning nuclear weapons and changing the national voting system, rather than dealing with the issues at hand in the city.

Labour and the Greens think they have been elected to change the world, but actually they have been elected to properly run the city’s services and £1 billion budget.  They are failing on both counts.

Conservative Councillor Carol Theobald has written to the Council CEO about the appalling state of Patcham Roundabout and flowerbed who has replied “We are very conscious that the current state of the roundabout and the flower bed is not what we would want it to be for local residents and visitors to the city and that we would ideally have been able to complete the replanting of the flowerbed with the completion of the roundabout landscaping.”

The City has lost its civic pride.  It’s time now for the council to bring back City in Bloom and restore some civic pride into the city.

ENDS.