Town wins bloom award

News

Town comes up smelling of roses

IT’S official – Wareham is blooming marvellous!

The town has been crowned the best small town in the South and South East region in the South and South East In Bloom (SSEIB) competition.

The competition, which is the largest horticultural contest in the region, involves hundreds of communities each year.

Participants create lasting improvements to their local environment for the benefit of all those who live in, work in or visit the area.

SSEIB’s annual regional competition focuses on the themes of horticulture, environment and community and Wareham was judged in July by John Lockwood.

The town’s entry was prepared by the Wareham Community Growers (WCG), successor to the former Wareham in Bloom Committee.

The group was delighted to learn at the awards ceremony in Farnham that Wareham had beaten six other towns in the ‘Small Town’ category to gain a coveted Gold and Regional Winner award.

“This is a superb result in just 16 months of the group’s existence,” said Rod Curtis, chair of WGC.

Wareham was also judged in the ‘Churchyard of the Year’ competition at Lady St Mary Cemetery, winning a superb Gold, and a coveted ‘Thriving’ award in the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ section for the Friends of Wareham Railway Station.

“Wareham Community Growers gratefully acknowledges the work of Wareham Town Council and its staff in providing magnificent town centre floral displays, and all those who provide their own displays for all to enjoy including residents, businesses and community projects,” Mr Curtis told the Gazette.

“Well done Wareham.”

A local ‘In Bloom’ competition has also been organised for residents and businesses by the WCG.

Winners of the awards will be published in the coming weeks.

Floral displays, such as the one pictured above, have earned Wareham the title of best small town, an award collected by Wareham Community Growers chairman Rod Curtis, left, and treasurer Sue Dean, right, from Mayor of Farnham Alan Earwaker, inset. Below, SSEIB judge John Lockwood with town crier Jacquie Hall. PHOTOS: Wareham Community Growers

Roadworks go on despite safety fears

BUSINESSES and members of Studland and Corfe parish councils are disappointed not to have secured a last-minute U-turn over plans to close a section of the B3351.

They have been flagging up concerns over the closure of a short section of road north of Corfe Castle on October 31 at the same time the Sandbanks ferry is out of service for refurbishment.

They believe the two taking place together, and for the same five-week time period, could be a fatal combination, with the risk of delays for emergency services as well as economic consequences for businesses.

Councillor Nick Boulter, chairman of Studland Parish Council, has been calling for the closure to be delayed until the ferry is operating in January.

“Shutting two essential transport links to Studland at the same time is something we have been desperate to avoid,” he said. “We feel our concerns have been totally ignored by Wessex Water and Dorset Council.”

A Wessex Water spokesman said everything possible had been done to minimise impact to the community while work to upgrade the water mains took place and the ferry closure had been taken into account.

“Following advice from Dorset Council, work has been timed to take place away from the busy summer holiday season and during a period in which the Sandbanks chain ferry is closed for maintenance so there’s less traffic passing through.

“To minimise impact on the community, we redesigned the scheme so the vast majority of the new water main has been moved off the B3351 into adjacent fields.”

A spokesman for Dorset Council said it would work to ensure traffic diversion did not place anyone at risk and added: “While we accept some people have concerns around the necessary traffic diversions, there is no perfect choice here.”

The closure of the Sandbanks Ferry will also mean changes to Purbeck bus services.

Morebus has announced that due to the lack of ferry it will be splitting its Purbeck Breezer 50 into two separate routes in addition to timetable changes.

“Our aim is to minimise any disruption,” a spokesman added.