Places Features

"Livid", "furious" and "very unhappy" were some of the ways that Loughborough residents described their feelings towards Leicestershire County Council's decision to remove the flower beds along one of the main routes into the town.

A BBC Radio Leicester listener, Tony Simons, called the show because he was angry that the County Council decided to remove the rose bushes on Epinal Way. They believed the flower beds had got into a poor state - for the moment the former beds are just muddy patches.

BBC Leicester spoke to the deputy leader of the council Nick Rushton, who has responsibility for highways, and David Walker from Charnwood Borough Council, and between them they worked out an agreement to re-plant the flower beds.

Later in August the council asked the local residents to tell them what kind of flowers they wanted in the beds across the town - not just on Epinal Way.

BBC Leicester's Julie Mayer is on the town's busiest road to reveal the results...

Update: 22 August

You can now view examples of flower bed designs and vote for your favourite on the Leicestershire County Council website...

BBC Leicester's Ben Jackson spoke to the County Council's Director of Highways Matthew Lugg about the flowerbeds' progress and the voting system...

Matthew said that the Council were looking for more people to get involved in the vote:

"It's been a bit limited so far, so we're very keen to get further feedback, to get a response about what people are interested in having on out verges and roundabouts around the town."

He commented that summer is not the best time for planting, so they are looking to collect as many opinions now so they can start replanting the beds fully in early autumn.

The bare flowerbeds

Update: 01 August

The saga of the war of the roses continues in Loughborough.

Over the past few weeks BBC Radio Leicester  have been campaigning along side 'Borough locals for the reinstatement of the flowerbeds along Epinal Way.

BBC Leicester's Julie Mayer revisited Loughborough to find out if anything had changed, plus Breakfast Presenter Ben Jackson caught up with David Parsons…

Radio car reporter Julie Mayer drove the entire stretch of Epinal Way and took notes of how things had progressed since her last visit.

She found that the flowerbeds bordering the road had not been replaced and were still just rectangles of bare earth.

There was more positive feedback on the roundabouts – there had been some replanting on the sponsored Alan Moss Road roundabout in the form of large wooden tubs full of large, long leaved plants.

None of the other roundabouts have been sorted yet, however Beacon Road roundabout was set to be replanted on 02 August.

David Parsons, the Leader of Leicestershire County Council has taken a close interest in the proceedings and pledged he would wrong the right and fight to get the beds back full of floral delights:

"I'm a keen gardener myself and I can understand why people want to see Epinal Way and the roads  around Loughborough in a beautiful state.

"Loughborough is such an important town in Leicestershire. I think we could really have an impact on the environment here in Loughborough."

He promised that new rose bushes will be planted along Epinal Way that will hopefully thrive and remain for many years.

David also outlined plans for a vote, set to start on August 08, to allow the local community to get involved in the choosing future flowerbed designs.

Keep listening to BBC Radio Leicester to find out how you can vote!

The refreshed roundabout!

Background: Angry residents

BBC Leicester's Julie Mayer went to Epinal Way to take a look for herself and to speak to Tony Simons, a Loughborough man who's very unhappy about the decision...

Tony says that he's angry that the flowerbeds have been removed with no consulation from residents, as they looked "absolutely stunning" and were a real point of interest.

He feels that Epinal Way is an important corridor into the town, and that the flower beds signalled to visitors that Loughborough is prosperous and a nice place to be. This will be especially important in the next few years:

"These people have got to remember we are a university town, and we are bidding for the Olympic training teams - we're not going to get it with a place looking like this at all.

"I would like to see all these flowerbeds put back just the way they were originally."

Leicestershire County Council: "very sorry it happened"

BBC Leicester received many calls and emails from Loughborough residents unhappy at the action, and BBC Leicester's Tony Wadsworth spoke to the Deputy Leader of the County Council, Nick Rushton, to hear his side of the story...

Cllr Rushton says he's not surprised by the reaction to the decision, as he's received many letters from unhappy residents.

He says that Charnwood Borough Council used to maintain the flower beds, and the county council took care of the grass.

But then the borough council withdrew from the flower beds and he says the county council aren't in the position to maintain them.

However he doesn't want to attribute blame, he wants to find a way to move forward:

"It's been an unfortunate situation, I'm very sorry it's happened, I apologise whole-heartedly to the people of Loughborough.

"I want to meet up with Charnwood next week if we can, and see if we can put something in position so that it doesn't happen again."

Charnwood Borough Council: "tell the contractors to stop"

BBC Leicester's Tony Wadsworth spoke to David Walker from Charnwood Borough Council to hear his view...

Cllr Walker says that although some of the flower beds have been dug up, there are still some that are left.

He thinks Cllr Rushton should take immediate action to stop the work:

"We need a meeting but in the meantime can we tell the contractors to stop because it's going to be very expensive to buy replacement roses, but people are going to demand that they are bought."

Cllr Rushton replied that if Charnwood Borough Council will commit to maintaining the roses, he would speak to his director and there would be no reason why the remaining roses should be removed.

Blooming good news!

Half an hour later Cllr Rushton came back on air with Tony Wadsworth...

He had some very good news for Loughborough residents:

"All the works to withdraw any of the rose bushes has been halted, no further works will be undertaken, and a high level meeting has been set up between Leicestershire County Council and Charnwood Borough Council to see whether or not we can do a deal where we carry on with the grass and they carry on maintaining the rose beds."