No floral displays to welcome Invergordon cruise visitors due to cuts
AN Easter Ross town at the heart of a Highland visitor boom is struggling to maintain floral displays credited with dramatically boosting its pulling power.
Highland Council budget cuts and difficulties securing volunteers have sparked fears Invergordon could be left looking below par at the very time it needs to blossom.
The blow comes as the deepwater port gears up to welcome 170,000 cruise line passengers this season and on the back of the mushrooming popularity of the NC500 route, which between them are expected to boost the Highland economy by tens of millions.
Cromarty Firth councillor Maxine Smith, who is leader of the SNP group at Highland Council, told the North Star: "For 13 years I have led this project and am saddened that this year it cannot continue due to budget cuts and the lack of new volunteers to help water the wall planters.
The loser here is also the Isobel Rhind Centre which provides all the plants for us – they take great pride in their floral displays and along with their head gardener, Fiona Grant, do a magnificent job.
"I thought there might be budget cuts coming and was worried that I had nobody to water them in 2018, so had suggested we reduce the 105 planters to 50. However once I realised the extent of the budget cuts in March, I had to notify the centre that we could not proceed with any, so did not put in an order.
"Unfortunately, they had already ordered the plants to fill 50 planters, thinking it would go ahead on that basis, so they are struggling to find another use for them as they still have to pay for the plugs. The whole floral project used to cost £6500, which the council entirely funded, but the money that is now in the fund will not pay for the flowers and everything else the ward will want this year."
She is seeking funding from other community groups and appealing for flower waterers. She said: "They would need to make a commitment for the whole summer and be reliable. We have a week to decide, before the flower planters would be too heavy to erect onto the walls.
"I am about to invite shop owners to a meeting at the end of this month to see a presentation from VisitScotland on tourism in Invergordon and its value, along with a talk about the North Coast 500. I hope to gauge support for shops to pay for their own planters, like in Alness, and also some of them to volunteer to take a regular turn in watering them. Then at least we can have flowers next year again.
"It smacks in the face of Invergordon’s success with cruise passengers, who will be coming to the town this year. They do love the floral displays and often photograph them along with the murals. At a time when nearly 100 cruise ships are visiting us, it is a source of massive frustration that the council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise cannot recognise that Invergordon could do with a little bit of financial help for its community groups, like my own, who work so hard for the town and have done, like unsung heroes, for decades.
"Most people think the flowers just appear and the council did it because they see me down the High Street, leading them putting the flowers up, but although the council did pay for them, it is volunteers who make the project happen."
Fiona Grant of the Isobel Rhind Centre said attendees took great pride in seeing visitors enjoy their work. Providing the plugs for planters is also a source of income offsetting project costs, she said. Around 16 gardeners are involved.
The centre will have a bedding and herbaceous plants sale on Friday, May 25 between 10am and 2pm.
