IT was meant to be a picturesque setting at the northern entrance to Petersfield. But, this week, a gardener has claimed he may have to reduce his new planting display on the Sheet link roundabout to rubble in the face of "bureaucratic nonsense". Christian Dupont, of grounds contracting specialist Philip Voice Ltd, was commissioned by town estate agent Jacobs and Hunt to create a landscaped roundabout to help Petersfield achieve a coveted 'In Bloom' award. It is now adorned with plants and shrubs, a central spiral conifer, a variety of wild roses, and is edged with gravel. But according to Mr Dupont, the display is under threat because East Hampshire District Council is asking Jacobs and Hunt to pay extra to go through planning procedures before it is allowed to erect a sign marking its sponsorship of the work. He claims he was given permission by the authority before he undertook the work and that his clients, who commissioned the planting, should not be forced to stump up yet more money. He said: "I'm sick and tired of dealing with this bureaucratic nonsense which wastes everyone's time, costs the tax payers in the long run, and takes the great out of Great Britain. "This will have to be sorted out within two weeks otherwise the plants will become firmly embedded and will be harder to remove. "I have to think of my client's interests, and the roundabout's future is now in the hands of East Hampshire District Council." EHDC's head of planning policy, Daryl Phillips, told The Herald that it was not the council's intention to see the floral display removed. And he said there was no immediate need for planning advertising consent as the current state of affairs was not necessarily viewed as unacceptable. He said: "Mr Dupont acted in good faith on the advice he received from EHDC, but nobody thought that he might need advertisement consent. "Nobody wants him to take the display down and we are not viewing this as a big problem at the moment. "Yes, at some point he may need to regularise the situation, but we are taking a pragmatic approach to this as he has done some good work."
