East Lothian Courier | News | Wilting not blooming

Thursday, 20th November, 2008

Published: Thursday, 21st August, 2008 08:40

Wilting not blooming

DUNBAR should take a leaf out of North Berwick’s book if residents want the town centre to bloom, says Dunbar community councillors.

At the group’s meeting on Monday, member Kilvert Croft urged residents to follow North Berwick;s lead by formally joining together to enhance the Dunbar’s appearance through on-street floral decorations.

Communities in North Berwick and Cockenzie and Port Seton have had great success in forming In Bloom volunteer horticultural groups to enhance their areas.

Mr Croft’s call follows an admission that council gardeners have been neglecting Dunbar’s flower beds and green areas.

“The town is not receiving the attention is should be,” said community councillor Herbert Coutts.

“The state of the High Street is lamentable. North Berwick and Port Seton are blooming but not Dunbar. We should be saying to East Lothian Council we have a problem here and we want to work with you to do something.

“I say we visit North Berwick. We could benefit from learning some of the lessons they’ve learnt.”

An East Lothian Council spokesman said: “There have been resource issues relating to the upkeep and maintenance of Dunbar’s green spaces and standards this year are not as they should be. This is something we are trying to address for next year. In terms of North Berwick, they have a large group of volunteers through an In Bloom group which supplements the work the council does.

“Dunbar Community Council may wish to consider setting up its own In Bloom group. That is something we would support.”

Membersacknowledged that temporary scaffolding on the Town House and a proliferation of scaffolding on private High Street properties hampered efforts to improve the town’s appearance.

Newly elected secretary, Catriona Thomas, said that “manky old carpets” used as street-level padding on scaffolding looked “disgraceful”.

Community council chairman, Stephen Bunyan, confirmed that the Town House revamp would be completed by the end of October.

Kilvert Croft said Dunbar should aspire to be an ‘In Bloom’ town within the ”next few years”.

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