Petty council officials have caused outrage after banning hanging baskets in the beautiful cathedral city of Salisbury.

Local people have said the hanging basket ban could have a significant impact on businesses both inside and outside Salisbury.

Speaking exclusively to the Express, pub owners Reece, 25, and Mike, 36, said the hanging baskets were a real draw to their pub, The Royal George.

They added that the ban could affect a small family-run business which supplies not just their pub, but almost all the bars in Salisbury.

READ MORE Plant expert shares how to correctly prune ‘unruly’ lavenders for a ‘tidy’ plant[LATEST]

Mike said: “We have three hanging baskets ourselves which look absolutely beautiful and we get comments from customers and passersby all the time and it brings people into the pub.

“It’s a little bit of a sneak peek of what we have out in the garden as well, so for this ban to be happening is a little bit absurd because it just then doesn’t bring that attraction to the facia of the pub.”

The pair said replacing the hanging baskets with living pillars as suggested by the council would not be possible.

Mike said: “We’re looking at living pillars and there is no way we would be allowed to do anything like a living pillar outside the Royal George.”

Mike and Reece said that they believed the council’s new rules will hinder businesses that rely on the hanging baskets to attract people to the pub.

Mike said: “I think they’re limiting businesses a lot in the aspect of managing to make the frontage of pubs look beautiful for customers and clients.”

The pair also fear for the future of the small family-run business that supplies the hanging baskets to many of the town’s pubs. 

Reece, the pub’s landlord, said: “We get our hanging baskets from a little independent company. They get a lot of money from hanging baskets and they do pretty much all the pubs in Salisbury so I’m sure they’re going to take a massive hit financially from that.”

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Don’t miss…
Garden expert shares ‘hardy’ and ‘drought-resistant’ plants for garden borders[LATEST]
Monty Don shares four plants to prune in July so they can ‘repeat flowering’[INSIGHT]
Heat-tolerant flowers to plant in gardens that have a long lifespan[REPORT]

Reece said the hanging baskets were a big draw for punters to their pub because it helped them stand out from the other buildings around them.

He said: “I’m not allowed a flappy sign outside the front of my pub, so the hanging baskets were to see that there was a business at the end of my road and because I’m a little bit further out of town, without them I would look like just another house.”

The alarm over the hanging basket ban was first raised by Conservative Councillor Eleanor Wills who criticised the decision by the council.

She spoke to the Express about how this decision was against the will of the people and bad for the environment.

Councillor Eleanor Wills said: “It’s absolutely not what residents wanted to see or hear and I think it really speaks to the fact that the current council administration are pushing their own ideology above what residents want.

“I think the other point to make here is that it’s so important that we put the environment at the front of local decision making and this is a key area that local government needs to be working on.

!It’s absolutely not the role of local authorities to be pottering on whether or not you have traditional planting or not.

“It’s much more about air pollution and the health of the community, how we increase biodiversity, it’s got nothing to do with things like ‘Do we keep hanging baskets or not?’ That just doesn’t help anybody.”

Source: Read Full Article