Let our garden centres reopen, Nicola, plead her own MSPs

GARDEN centres across Scotland should follow those in England and reopen, say politicians.

Nationalists joined other MSPs in appealing to Nicola Sturgeon’s government to review the decision to keep centres north of the Border shut.

Among those at Holyrood’s rural economy committee calling for a rethink was Nationalist MSP Christine Grahame.

She said: ‘I hope the Government thinks again about this because we’re not just talking about the garden centres, we’re talking about the plant suppliers and the health and wellbeing for many, many people for whom that is their only outlet while they are in lockdown.’

Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton said it is ‘completely illogical’ for garden centres to have to stay shut while DIY stores and large supermarkets are open.

She said garden centres have ‘faced the perfect storm of seasonality and perishability’.

She added: ‘Garden centres are opening in England today and we are seeing companies like Dobbies and Klondyke, who have headquarters here in Scotland, unable to open in Scotland.’

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said he wants the outlets to open again – but only when ‘it is safe to do so’. Though they could also sell their goods using online deliveries, he added: ‘I fully accept gardening is a great source of pleasure for many people, particularly during lockdown.

‘The supply chain is extremely important, so let me be absolutely clear, I want garden centres to be open as soon as it is safe to do so. But the overriding question is the extent to which we require continuing precautionary measures in order to address the main objective of saving lives and preventing an overwhelming demand on our NHS acute medical services.’

Scottish Government official Gerry Saddler said ‘building blocks’

‘This is the only outlet for many’

required to allow reopening are being put in place. He told MSPs: ‘All the preparation work is currently ongoing and we are pretty much ready to go as soon as it is safe to open the garden centres.’

In England, queues of shoppers formed as they were allowed to return to centres for the first time since lockdown.

Many customers were asked to use hand-sanitiser and reminded of the two-metre distancing rule.

One site in Kent had installed heat sensors to detect anyone who might be running a temperature – a possible symptom of the virus.

A survey by the Horticultural Trades Association found 30 per cent of firms warned they were at risk of insolvency by the end of this year. As a result, the HTA is lobbying the Government for a bailout.

Chairman of the HTA James Barnes said: ‘At the beginning of April, we had 500 million bedding plants sitting on the ground with no one to buy them.’