The floral display which greets motorists as they come off the dual carriageway at Patcham is to become less inviting with the loss of the word Welcome.
Officers told Patcham ward councillors the plants used to spell out the word are too prone to disease, and so difficult to maintain.
All the plants have now been removed – and for the time being, so has the longstanding sponsorship from Italian restarant Donatellos.
Councillor Lee Wares said: “When we saw the bed had been cleared we naturally assumed it was being refreshed.
“We were dismayed to learn that the city was no longer going to say “Welcome”.
“Although, given the disgraceful state of the adjacent roundabout perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised; there can’t be that many contenders for the worst gateway entrance to a city competition.
“Ironically, I received the email confirming the removal of the Welcome display at the same time Labour was being confirmed as the new administration at the annual council meeting in Brighton Town Hall; I hope that is just a coincidence.”
Newly elected Conservative Councillor Alistair McNair added: “This decision doesn’t make sense. The council receive a huge amount of money in sponsorship for this specific flower bed that should easily cover the cost of suitable plants and the ability to maintain them.
“It does feels more akin to not wanting to, as opposed to not being able to.”
Donatello’s owner Sue Addis said she had asked for the restaurant’s signs to be taken away and she had not renewed the sponsorship while the council decided what to do with the flower bed.
She said: “The sign was in such a bad state before they pulled up all the planting, the whole Welcome had gone brown, I think it had some sort of disease.
“Once they pulled it all up I said I can’t sponsor just a patch of earth and asked for the sponsorship signs to be taken away.
“I’m just waiting to see what they’re doing with it. It’s important as a gateway into our city but these things have to be maintained.”
A council spokeswoman said: “Our topiary ‘welcome’ sign on the A23 flower bed was made from box. Unfortunately the plant got a common disease called ‘box blight’ and had to be removed as the disease can spread rapidly.
“We did a trial using low-growing holly but it didn’t work as box is the best hedging material for topiary lettering, so we’ve decided not to include topiary lettering in the new display.
“We’ve replanted the bed this month with a summer floral display and are working with the sponsor to improve this important entrance to the city.
“We’re also talking to potential sponsors and Highways England, which owns the roundabout, on a wildlife-friendly planting scheme that will complement the existing flower bed and provide a much improved welcome to visitors coming to the city from the A23.”
I remember when there were floral beds adjacent to Preston Rd in Preston Park and designs were submitted by Towns around the Country.Why do they have to use topiary,why not coloured bedding plants?
Agree with Rolivan – Preston Park had these AMAZING floral displays along its whole ‘London Road’ side.
The tennis area was also ‘flooded’ with amazing Dahlias. The rose garden had amazing Victorian lighting fixtures. I was too young, at the time, to enjoy these in an ‘obvious’ fashion.
I’m NOT that old. I remember the lights being vandalised, they were never replaced. The dahlias never came back, the bowling greens, vandalised, now a fraction of what they used to be. It’s all a result of constant, incessant vandalism and a lack of funding.
The roundabout coming into Brighton is a disgrace!! What a welcome for visitors to our city. If it’s down to Highways England then why hasn’t Brighton council been on their case earlier? It’s looked like that ever since the roundabout was cleared years ago!! Shame on them!!
Sue Addis says this is an important gateway to the city yet thinks nothing of flyposting the verge with four illegal adverts. If all local businesses did this the gateway would look an even bigger tip. Take them down please and start acting like responsible people. I’d urge anyone concerned about our environment to boycott Donatello until they are gone.