Fake plants could save town council £3,000 each year
A council is proposing to replace plants in the town with synthetic ones after it was revealed it costs taxpayers more than £3,000 every year to maintain them.
The cost of hanging baskets and plants has been revealed in a recommendation going to a Welshpool Town Council meeting next week, which is proposing to install replacement synthetic plants around the town.
It currently costs the council £900 a year to hang baskets and to plant all the plants in the town, and it also takes staff 200 hours a year to water the plants, at a cost of £2,250.
Councillors will debate whether the costs are good value for money for the taxpayer, and will decide whether to trial synthetic plants around the town, which will cost a one-off fee of £900.
The new plants would be quality sun resistant planting in baskets.
The council services committee has recommended to push on with the trial and town clerk Robert Robinson said: "This is a way we could save money, and possibly put it to better use.
"The issue is we are spending over £2,000 to water the plants, and we are asking is this value for money, and could it be better spent elsewhere.
"We have looked at the synthetic plants and how much they would cost, and we could put these in place and do a years trial, if it doesn't work then we will have a look at it again.
"We have asked traders in the town if they want to be responsible for baskets near their shops, and the majority didn't."
Mr Robinson insisted this wasn't a cut back by the council, and said the council is committed to providing more services for the town.
"I want to make it very clear that we won't be cutting anything, we are growing our services."
