Basket ban for 'blooming' village

An award-winning village gardening team have been banned from using hanging baskets because of safety fears.

Officials have vetoed plans for more than 100 hanging baskets in Rosliston, south Derbyshire, because they might fall on people's heads.

Workers have been dispatched to the village to remove baskets and brackets from lamp posts.

Previous Village in Bloom competition entries have won prizes and raised money for charities.

Les Unwin, council area manager for the highways department, said: "The fear is that the street lighting column may collapse.

Just a little bit of a jobsworth that's come along Paul Marbrow, flower enthusiast

"Some street lightings are capable of carrying displays but this particular one wasn't.

"Our street lighting team took it down in the interests of safety."

The parish council and an army of green-fingered volunteers had hung baskets from lamp posts, electricity poles and BT poles.

Concrete planters have also been banned because they are seen as potential hazards to motorists.

Paul Marbrow, chairman of the parish council said: ""We were thinking this year to increase our number of baskets up to nearly a hundred but we'll probably only have a dozen baskets in the village.

'Give up'

"I think it's just a little bit of a jobsworth that's come along.

"I can understand their safety concerns but these baskets have been there for quite a number of years now," he said.

"We haven't had a basket fall off and nobody's been injured.

"If it doesn't go well maybe we might want to give up which will mean there probably won't be anything at all, just weeds growing."

The Village in Bloom and Open Gardens events raise thousands of pounds every year for good causes, such as the local church and pre-school.