Petals plan goes bloomin' potty

8:03am Wednesday 3rd May 2006

Comments (0)   Have your say »

COUNCIL taxpayers are to cough up thousands of pounds to give Hoylake a short-lived blaze of colour for the Open Golf Championship.

That's the fee Wirral residents will pay to a non-local firm for the rental of floral arrangements for Hoylake and neighbouring West Kirby during this summer's competition.

“Why hasn’t it been at least offered to one or more of the many local businesses who will be still be here in Hoylake long after the Open has gone?”

Nick Manning

But some businesses in Hoylake are upset that the contract wasn't offered to local florists or garden centres.

Hoylake Business Group vice-chairman Nick Manning told the Globe he was "staggered" the council didn't approach anyone local for the leasing contract.

"Why hasn't it been at least offered to one or more of the many local businesses who will be still be here in Hoylake long after the Open has gone?" he asked.

"We had a committee meeting last week and when we heard the sum of £25,000 mentioned, everyone's jaws just dropped. It's a huge amount of money from a council that's always pleading poverty!"

Mr Manning added: "If the council had come to us, we're confident that we could have provided the same service at around a third of the price. We could buy the tubs permanently, supply the flowers and tend to them on a local business level until the end of the season. And we'd still have all the tubs left for next year, too. It's potty."

Only last month, Wirral Council was advised its cultural services department faced a cash crisis and "radical" savings were needed to balance the books.

But department head Jim Lester said: "Wherever we can, we do aim to use local suppliers, but in this case it was not possible because of the large-scale nature of the displays that were required.

"The leasing agreement for these large displays - which are vital to presenting West Kirby and Hoylake at their best up to and including the Open - offered the best value option to Wirral and, on the scale required, could only be sourced from outside the area"

Mr Lester insisted that the leasing agreement was getting the best value of taxpayers' money.

The Open runs from July 20 to 23.