A HOST of golden daffodils planted to help promote a boot sale entrepreneur’s business has been given a reprieve.

Council officials originally ordered Robert Blyth to dig up 13,000 flowers planted on his land in Ardleigh claiming they amounted to illegal advertising.

Now Tendring Council has backed down and apologised for demanding he remove his 150ft floral display.

Mr Blyth, 28, of Wick Lane, Ardleigh, commissioned the display to promote a website for his company, the Boot Group, which runs car boot fairs off Old Ipswich Road, Ardleigh.

Enforcement officers told Mr Blyth to remove the flowers or risk a £2,500 fine, plus an extra £250 a day for every day the flowers stayed there. But four days before the deadline, the council changed its mind.

Mr Blyth said: “I have not long been off the telephone to a senior enforcement officer who has decided the council would like to retract the enforcement action it was planning to take – and get the officer to write to us personally with sincere apologies.”

Mr Blyth described the council’s original approach as completely out of proportion.

He said: “It’s not an advertisement – it’s a floral display.

“We have been inundated with comments from our customers about how beautiful the daffodils look.”

Tracey Coyne, of the Anglia Bulb Company which planted the flowers for Mr Blyth, said she was gobsmacked the council threatened to take action in the first place.

She added: “It looks fantastic and puts a smile on everybody’s faces. They will probably only be in bloom for 30 days anyway.

“I think the council should be concentrating on more important things.”

Nigel Brown, Tendring Council's communications manager, confirmed officials had contacted Mr Blyth and apologised for the way it dealt with the matter.

He said: “We have held our hands up and will not be pursuing this any further.”