Town of flowers may ditch blooms for bike track
Wednesday 14th April 2010, 2:20PM BST.
Dozens of flowers which floral judges from In Bloom see when they visit Shrewsbury could be removed from one of the main routes into the town to make way for a cycle path.
Cycle Shrewsbury has asked Shrewsbury Town Council for 32 concrete planters to be removed from Smithfield Road to transform the area they take up into a cycle path. Shrewsbury In Bloom committee learned about the proposal at its latest meeting.
Members were told by Gary Farmer, the town council’s operations manager, that he will look for possible areas within the town to replace them.
But committee members said they were concerned In Bloom judges would not appreciate flowers being removed from one of the main routes into the town.
The minutes of the meeting said: “The town council had received a request to remove the 32 concrete planters from the footway along Smithfield Road to facilitate the development of a cycle lane.
“Gary Farmer reported that he is to meet with Dan Simms from Highways to look at possible areas within the town to relocate those planters, but the cost of re-location should be borne by Cycle Shrewsbury which was requesting removal.”
The minutes said that members expressed concern that “given the importance and reputation of Shrewsbury as a town of flowers, to remove floral displays on one of the major routes within the town would not be well received not only by the In Bloom judges but the public at large”.
The minutes also said that as Cycle Shrewsbury was requesting the removal of the planters it should “fund floral troughs for the railings along Smithfield Road”.
“Members felt that such a project would also fit in with the plans to develop the planting in the vicinity of the Quantum Leap,” the minutes added.
The committee decided that Mr Farmer would look at potential new locations for the planters, as well as a scheme to install barrier troughs along Smithfield Road.
By Andrew Morris
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the concrete containers is ugly
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Never mind the planters… that lamp post looks like quite a hazard to me.
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The photo clearly shows three lanes. If you must continue to permit motor vehicles into the river loop, have one lane in each direction for motor vehicles and use the other lane for the creation of cycle lanes and a bridleway.
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A bridelway on Smithfield Road, youve lost the plot there!
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I must say I agree with ‘ad’ about the containers. I think a cycle path would be an excellent idea. Flowers could be put in baskets or containers attached to the railings.
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Can’t pedalos be provided for the cyclists? They could have the whole river to keep fit with no fear of collision with motor vehicles.
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perhaps flower container could be put on the back of the bicycles? It would create a lovely moving,changing display.
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This is a dangerous road with virtually no provision for cyclists on either side, so something needs to be done. It’s unhelpful to try to stir up indignation with this sort of provocative headline when there is an issue of safety at stake and – as others have already stated – there are alternative locations for floral displays.
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What a waste of money. Very few bikes use this road, If you travel on Roman Road where there is a track, you can still see children and adults riding on the main road even at busy times. I thought the Council was trying to save money ?
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Flowers all around the town seems like a waste of money. Spend it on entertainment for the towns teenagers. A cycle path is a very good idea and much needed along that road.
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great news
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Yet another waste of tax payers money , enough was spent placing these items there , now more to remove them , cyclists have managed for year’s without the need for special lanes , why all of a sudden is there a requirement for any thing different ??
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The cyclists can wear floral lycra! Where do I sign?
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ABOUT TIME TOO THOSE THINGS ARE A TRIP HAZARD FOR PEDESTRIANS AND AN EYESORE
this whole area needs a revamp to be more pedestrian friendly, i would also like to see a river crossing (pedestrian bridge) by coton hill to link it to frankwell reducign the walk between these two main resdiential areas by about 15 mins
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Why not put oblong flower beds hanging off the railing AND a new cycle track? Those concrete flower pots have been there for as long as I can remember (25 years) anyway and aren’t very pleasing on the eye.
Typical Sloppy Star for trying to make out like it’s a bad thing getting rid of ugly flower beds for a safe cycle track. Which one of you journos has relatives that work for the Horticultural Society then ey? Come on, own up.
If that cycle track doesn’t get built then it’ll just prove that Shrewsbury is and always will be a backwards little Town.
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Yep – quite agree with Squirrel here, a cycle lane would be ideal & those planters are extremely ugly! I’m sure Britain in Bloom would appreciate the sustainability angle, and flowers on the railings would be a much more efficient use of space.
Intrigued by the idea of flowers on bikes, maybe attach Daffodils to the spokes & hanging baskets on the handlebars? Then we could have a parade of bloom bedecked bikes when the judges are in town. Lovely :)
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Kim is absultely right – it is a dangerous road, so why make it worse by encouraging cyclists. At least the flower display containers are stationary and not weaving in and out of traffic.
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fine by me, those containers add nothing positive to the street scene
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fine by me, move them to harlescott i say, too much of britain in bloom is in the town centre and we get forgotton about in sundorne and harlescott
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If the hanging planters dethrone a cyclist or two it could be quite amusing.
Have you ever been slapped in the face by a daffodil?
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its not the flowers that are wrong its the pots, come on concrete, pebble dash at that in this day and age is surely not the 60′s anymore, come on, lets paint them black atleast or grow ivy over them to cover them up, they are ugly, ugly ugly
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why not bring the smithfield back into the town then the cows and sheep could move safely.
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What is the point of this ?
Cyclists will continue to ride on the footpath regardless of a cycle path. Total waste of time and money. They are a rule unto themselves.
While I am at it, why don’t arrogant cyclists who ride using ‘no hands’ never fall off ?
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This is a great idea in my opinion. Get rid of those horrid peppledash pots and build a cycle path. Put the flowers elsewhere in the town that needs perking up visually.
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the town of flowers thing does nothing for the town its the 21st century not the 16th, lets invest in some hi tech manufacturing and green technology in shrewsbury not care homes and tourism which just move money from one part of the country to the other, they are not wealth creating industries
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This part of town desperately needs a proper cycle lane – stopping the plans cos of a few flower pots would be bonkers
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well said aaron, also cycling is a manufucaturing indusrty and a green industry, why not build bikes in shrewsbury? certainly more bike lanes will help this and help the economy with health, pollution reduction and congestion too
i say smash the concrete pots to peices and use them as road aggregate to resurface our pot holed lanes and build new bike lanes across the whole of shropshire
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im not a philistine, i like theatres and parks and stuff but really come one its not a priority, i like to see the town look good, but i cannot for the life of me see what the town gets in terms of real jobs, tourism, investment, proper factories building things, infrastructure, high technology jobs and opportunities from the millions upon millions of public funds spent on planting flowers every year, its a luxury we could afford under years of boom with labour, but post the election the new government will need to cut luxuries and simple austerity means less for councils and I hope the end of planters and more focus on proper services like roads and rubbish and less fluffy floral flip flop flaffy fluff like these
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good please do they are rubbish plant pots and most of the year they are empty just bare soil only for the summer
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