Planting flowers by the road? You'll need a licence and £5m insurance

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To the residents of Everton in Nottinghamshire, the blooms added a splash of colour to an already picturesque corner of rural England.

But to county council officials, they represented a health and safety risk which had to be licensed and regulated.

The confrontation began when the village's parish council decided to plant flowerbeds by a main road.

It was swiftly informed that a "licence to cultivate" was required.

That was just the start of the red tape. Villagers were then told to submit a health and safety questionnaire and a risk assessment for carrying out the work.

Once these had been granted, the plans had to be approved by Nottinghamshire county council's landscape team.

The accident investigation department also had to be consulted in case the flower beds caused a motoring hazard.

Even then, the display couldn't be planted, because utility companies needed to be formally consulted in case the planting caused them a problem.

And, of course, public liability insurance - with cover for at least £5million - had to be taken out.

In the face of all this, it's perhaps not surprising that Everton's 770 residents decided to give up on the idea.

Parish councillor Richard Bacon, 63, said: "It's ridiculous. The expense of doing all this is totally out of proportion with what we want to do.

"We had planned a wooden border with top soil beneath the hedgerow to make everything look lovely.

"But the verge does belong to the council so we needed permission. Their response seems totally over the top. Why do we need a risk assessment? We've all got gardening skills."

The county council was unrepentant. A spokesman said: "There are many health and safety concerns relating to works on the highway.

"The required licence to cultivate helps to make sure that plants chosen do not reach a height that will obscure motorists' visibility and we insist that whoever carries out the work has public liability insurance."