We’ll miss municipal flower beds when they’re gone

Marigolds. Petunias. Lobelia. Marigolds. Petunias. Lobelia. Begonias. And repeat. From Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Council flowerbeds: could there be anything more comically dreary than the rigid repetition, the stern predictability, the wilful banality of municipal displays? Neat to the point of OCD, every stiff primula placed just so, they symbolise purse-lipped town hall power at its most Pooterish.

But now they are under threat and I find myself springing to their defence. As councils are feeling the financial squeeze they have started removing the beds and turfing them over to save cash that would otherwise be spent on bedding plants and gardeners.

The latest casualties are flower beds surrounding a First World War memorial in the centre of Cockenzie, near Edinburgh, which were torn up by East Lothian

Council. Flower beds at Bexhill Cemetery in East Sussex are to be grassed over by Rother District Council as part of a cost-cutting drive. Others are bound to follow.

I feel the real issue is a shocking lack of imagination. Instead of destroying the beds, why not let locals use them? Let them take over, bring bulbs, plant perennials and tend them throughout the year. Invite guerrilla gardeners in to showcase their talents. Hold competitions and make public spaces into green community hubs.

And if all that sounds far too much fun there’s always the wildflower option. North West Leicestershire District Council opted for wildflowers last year and reduced its outlay from £20,000 to just more than £4,000.

So please don’t dig up any more precious growing spaces. Consult the residents who use them.