CELEBRITY gardener Alan Titchmarsh has said he is astonished at Bradford Council's decision to slash the district's floral displays by four-fifths.

The veteran broadcaster, who began his career as a council gardener in his home town of Ilkley, said the Bradford district was rightly renowned for its floral displays, and the community would be "infinitely worse off" without them.

He said flowers were not a "frivolous add-on to a local budget", as they provided a host of community benefits for their relatively modest cost.

The cut-backs are starting to hit the city, towns and villages this summer, as the Council presses ahead with plans to close its horticultural nursery and dramatically scale back floral displays across the district, to save £200,000 over two years.

Mr Titchmarsh said: "It is so sad that the Council feels a need to cut back on the floral displays in the Bradford area where I grew up and learned my trade as an apprentice gardener.

"Local authorities rightly prioritise health, law and order and education and it astonishes me that they seem blind to the fact that green spaces, flowers and plants impact on all three of these areas in terms of the health and wellbeing of the local population.

"Flowers and floral displays are not a frivolous add-on to a local budget; they provided a valued resource for every member of the community, lifting spirits and increasing a feeling of self-worth and pride in the towns and villages.

"I hope that the relatively modest cost of their survival, in terms of the local authority budget, is reconsidered.

"Without the displays for which the area has become renowned, life will be a poorer, duller place and the local community infinitely worse off in terms of their general wellbeing."

In February, the Labour-led Council decided to close its horticultural nursery, at Peel Park, Bradford, and scale back floral displays, as part of a range of cuts to services totalling £34 million.

Last month, more details emerged of how the decision would affect different areas.

From this year, the Council's parks department will stop providing hanging baskets for Keighley, Ilkley and Shipley. Bradford's hanging baskets will be dramatically reduced this year and will stop completely next year.

The number of bedding plants on roundabouts, verges and in parks across the district will be slashed from 201,000 to only 40,200, with more than 40 beds earmarked for removal and many others to be reduced in size or planted with low-maintenance specimens instead.

Lists of the beds under threat went before the district's area committees last month and final decisions will be taken by October.

In some areas, volunteers or community groups could be encouraged to take over planting and maintenance duties, or town or parish council precepts could be used to fund floral displays.

Bradford Councillor Adrian Naylor (Ind, Craven) has spoken of his anger at the cuts, and is now setting up meetings across Silsden, Steeton and Eastburn to help minimise the impact.

He said each area might need a different approach, with some neighbourhoods accepting perennial plants but others that entered ‘in bloom’ competitions needing plants that flowered at a specific time.

Cllr Naylor said: “We’re going to find out what each community wants to do, then find out the financial impact.

"If you’re wanting groups to take on services like this, the first thing they’re going to ask is ‘how much will it cost?'."

The growing of summer bedding plants has now almost finished, and Peel Park nursery will close by August 31.

The closure is affecting seven staff members, including three disabled workers employed on a scheme offering extra support.

One former staff member who worked there for 39 years said its loss was a "travesty".

Former area parks and landscapes manager Graeme Atkins, who took early retirement last year, said he was gravely concerned that the three disabled staff members would struggle to find new jobs, despite having been "very efficient and reliable" at the nursery.

And he said in his view, the nursery could have been turned into more of a commercial venture to offset its costs, building on the successful public plant sales it held.

Mr Atkins, of Idle, said: "I just think it's a travesty, when we have got a building there to provide plants, that it's going to be mothballed and shut down."

But a council boss defended the plans to use more sustainable perennials and evergreens in the remaining beds, saying this had environmental benefits as well as saving the authority money.

Phil Barker, assistant director for sport and leisure services, said: "The new proposals mean that we are moving away from traditional, old fashioned planting schemes, with annual bedding plants and formal displays, and moving towards a more modern style, making greater use of perennials and evergreen plants, to provide colour and interest all year round.

"This new approach, to more sustainable and lower-maintenance planting, encourages more insects, bees and other wildlife as the ground isn’t disturbed as much.

"We would like to invite Alan to come and have a look at what we are doing and would welcome his ideas as to how we can still provide the same standards but with fewer resources."

A Council spokesman said it had received seven inquiries from third parties interested in taking on the glasshouses once they closed.

Mr Titchmarsh left school at 15 to work in a nursery as an apprentice gardener for Ilkley council.

Aged 18, he enrolled at Shipley Art and Technology Institute to gain his City and Guilds in horticulture.

From there he progressed to Kew Gardens and ultimately began his long and varied TV career including such shows as Love Your Garden, Ground Force and Gardener's World.