YOBS have been damaging and destroying plant displays installed to brighten up Colchester town centre.
For the past three years Our Colchester Business Improvement District (BID) has been creating colourful planting displays across the town centre in a bid to make Colchester more attractive for visitors.
This year, the BID extended its scheme and distributed a number of free planters to independent businesses based in the town.
However, since the start of June, the group says it has seen a high level of anti-social behaviour and a number of the hanging baskets have been destroyed or badly damaged by vandals.
Colchester in Bloom, which also installs colourful displays in the town, says it has also seen a number of incidents of damage to its installations, as well as its planters being used as makeshift rubbish bins to dump rubbish.
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Pam Schomberg, chairwoman of the group, said: “It is so disappointing people would show such disregard to a delicate and beautiful floral display.
“More often the displays are destroyed just for fun, with the plants being pulled out and thrown around the pavement.
“But we will continue, always, to keep Colchester blooming and looking glorious if we can.”
The BID uses part of its budget, which comes from its member businesses’ levies, to install the displays each year.
A spokesman for the group said: “The BID is a business-led, business-funded organisation that invests in improving and enhancing the town centre each year and it is extremely disappointing to witness our planters being mindlessly destroyed for no reason.
“Despite this, it will not stop us as we have so many lovely positive comments from local residents each week thanking us for the plants around the town centre.
“We do not want the poor decisions of the minority to represent the majority of our residents that are proud of their town centre.
“Despite the planters now being out for their third year, we have only started to get anti-social behaviour over the last couple of months.”
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