Launceston hanging baskets come down as hosepipe ban bites

The flowers are fine. It is the water that has become the problem. The hanging baskets that have been brightening the Town Hall and the war memorial in Launceston are coming down, and they are going into storage until the rain returns.

Why there is a hosepipe ban in Cornwall

The ban was brought in by South West Water after one of the driest periods in recent years. Rainfall across the South West has stayed well below seasonal averages for months, and the Environment Agency has now declared half of England, the South West included, in drought.

Businesses are exempt. Councils are not

That distinction is the one catching people out. The ban does not apply to businesses, so a garden centre or a trader can carry on. Councils cannot. They are barred from using hosepipes and sprinklers to water hanging baskets, floral displays, flower beds or any other ornamental planting in public areas such as town centres and parks.

Which leaves a town like Launceston with a practical choice. Leave the displays up and watch them go over, or take them somewhere they can be kept alive by hand.

Where the baskets go now

Launceston Town Council has gone for the second option.

“Therefore we will remove the hanging baskets from the Town Hall and war memorial areas and store them so they can be watered with watering cans until such time as the ban is lifted and we can return them on site,” the council said.

So the baskets are not being scrapped. They are being kept going out of sight, one watering can at a time, with no date set for their return. That part is down to the weather.

📷An aerial view of the town and countryside around Launceston, Cornwall, UK