Vandals destroy city flowerbeds

Herefordshire Council has been forced to replant beds in the Victoria Bridge gardens area of Hereford after vandals pulled up some 200 to 300 plants.

A cube planter in Hereford’s High Town has also been turned over and may need to be replaced.

Every year, 96,000 bedding plants are planted by the council contractor’s Amey Wye Valley over a six-week period.

Councillor Adrian Blackshaw, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for economic development and community services, said: “We carry out the annual planting scheme every year to make the county more welcoming to both locals and visitors and it is disheartening that the actions of a few mindless people aim to ruin this.

“The people concerned should remember it costs money to replace these plants and it is probably their parents who are paying for it through their council tax bills,” he added.

Sean Pockett, Britain in Bloom Co-ordinator, added: “It’s disappointing that we have had to re-do these beds, as our operatives take pride in their work. It’s fortunate that we were able to replace the plants quickly.”

This year’s planting scheme has also been hit by downy mildew which affected beds in Hereford, Ledbury and Ross-on-Wye.

Andrew Tomkinson, Herefordshire Council’s assistant parks manager, said: “Busy lizzies were mainly affected and we have had to remove them from the planting scheme and we will be replacing them with other plants.”