Garden centres in Hampshire say proposed watering bans would put jobs at risk

The Horticultural Trades Association has responded to a consultation by Portsmouth Water with an urgent call for the unique needs of the sector to be considered in their plans for handling drought bans.

The water company has recently consulted on its drought plans, which include suggested bans on ‘watering outdoor plants on commercial premises’ and ‘watering in newly bought plants’.

However the HTA says that such bans would put their industry at risk – and they are calling for an exemption to be made.

Martin Emmett, from the HTA, said: ‘We know that the southeast of England is a water-stressed area.

‘However, outright bans on our members abilities to water plants and trees would be ruinous. We want to collaborate with Portsmouth Water to find a way forward on exempting ornamental horticulture businesses from a mains water ban, but also get their support in making it easier to develop water infrastructure, such as reservoirs.’

Portsmouth Water’s area, which covers Hampshire and West Sussex, is the base for 14 HTA grower members with an estimated collective annual turnover of over £100m.

The HTA says that there are also 12 garden retail centres in the same catchment, some part of larger chains, that employs hundreds of people and with an approximate combined annual turnover of more than £1.8bn.

Bob Taylor, CEO at Portsmouth Water, said: ‘We fully understand the concerns of the HTA members in our area and how important this industry is to our local economy.

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‘The last thing we would wish to do is to damage these businesses. We would be keen to work with the HTA to enhance their members’ water efficiency knowledge and to help their members to source the water they need for irrigation through the use of local storage reservoirs, water recycling and water efficient irrigation systems.

‘Doing this will be more cost effective for HTA members in the longer term, it will be kinder to the environment, will avoid the unnecessary use of high quality drinking water for irrigation and avoid any future bans on the use of the potable supply.’

Portsmouth Water’s draft drought plan consultation has now closed and the firm says it is reviewing the responses before it publishes its statement in September.