Fury over flower fiasco (From Stroud News and Journal)

Fury over flower fiasco

NAILSWORTH flower-lovers are furious after officials asked a town trader to remove planters they claimed were obscuring visibility on a road junction.

Carolyn Findlay, owner of Mad Hatters restaurant in Cossack Square, removed the wallflowers after Gloucestershire County Council threatened to do it themselves and send her the bill if she did not comply.

She told the News & Journal she was disappointed with the line the council was taking but did not want to get into a dispute about it.

She said she had only wanted to improve the look of Cossack Square.

"When we came here five years ago this end of town was in recession and there wasn't much civic pride," she said.

"We've always liked to put out flowers as a gesture of good will to make the place more beautiful."

But Nailsworth resident Kathleen Beard said townspeople were furious over the council's interference.

"The local people are incensed," she said. "The flowers always made the corner look really nice.

"But the council said the baskets were a traffic hazard.

"Cars shouldn't be racing round that bend anyway - they're supposed to give way. "If anything the planters were traffic calming.

"Somebody who takes the trouble to make the town look better shouldn't be penalised and persecuted.

"I'm sure the council must have something better to do than harass people who are just trying to improve the town and the local environment."

Nigel Powell, divisional surveyor, said the council had made the decision because the flowers were seriously limiting visibility for people pulling out of the junction.

"You could not consider it to be traffic calming," he said.

"Of course people should stop to give way but they need clear visibility in both directions to know if it is safe.

"We did give them permission to put planters there so long as they didn't grow up too high.

"We would have been happy if she had left them but cut them back." "But what we don't want to do is endanger lives."