A COUNCIL'S decision to spend £500 on flowers to brighten up a Herefordshire town is a waste of time and money, one critic has said.

Coun Gill Churchill interrupted a meeting of Bromyard and Winslow Town Council as fellow member Coun Lisa Law proposed the money be spent on flowers for Nunwell Park.

But Coun Churchill claimed the plants would die for several reasons, citing her experience as a previous chair of the now-defunct Bromyard in Bloom.

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Coun Mark Franklin said when the council took over Nunwell Park, on the opposite side of the A44 Bromyard Bypass to Nunwell Surgery, from Herefordshire Council, the intention was to work with the community.

That is why he backed Coun Law's proposal to spend £500 to help the People's Project group, set up by volunteers from the town, to plant various flowers and shrubs there.

But Coun Churchill, who last week had to apologise for accusing companies of "blackmailing" the council over the high costs of new signs, interrupted Coun Law's proposal.

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She said it was a "waste of time" as the flowerbeds had been neglected since Bromyard in Bloom ceased to exist. She was concerned over extra flowerbeds not flourishing because of overhanging trees forming a canopy which was too dense.

Coun Churchill also said when the volunteers "give up", the area will be "sheer rubbish", and nematodes, also known as roundworms, would eat daffodils.

The chair of September 26's extraordinary meeting Coun Dunne-Thomas told Coun Churchill to let Coun Law finish.

Coun Law she said it was an opportunity for the community to come together, adding: "If it fails in the future, then that's it, but at least we've given them the opportunity to try."

The council voted in favour of spending £500, apart from Coun Churchill who voted against.