City says bin strike won't trash Britain In Bloom bid

Published on Monday 13 July 2009 10:59

BRITAIN in Bloom judges will be arriving in Edinburgh to grade the city's parks and gardens in the midst of a potential bin strike, it has emerged.

The officials from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) are set to descend on the Capital on 3 August, when bin men have threatened to go out on strike over losing their bonuses.

The city has already experienced the sight – and smell – of overflowing bins after employees agreed to work to rule over the pay dispute, and the scenario would become considerably worse in all parts of the city if the strike went ahead during the Festival, which also coincides with the judges' visit.

Edinburgh is representing the whole of Scotland in the Britain in Bloom contest and will go head to head with Croydon in the large city category, but the city will have an extra obstacle to overcome if the bin strike goes ahead.

RHS judges Ray Beckwith and Jim Goodwin will be taken on a tour by city officials on 3 August and will then quiz them on aspects of the city's horticulture.

Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, the city's environment leader, hopes the bin dispute will be resolved by the time they visit.

He said: "We are extremely proud to be representing Scotland in the final of Britain in Bloom and are doing all that we can to resolve the dispute in time to wow the judges next month."

Britain in Bloom says it will make allowances for any strike when marking the city. A spokeswoman said: "Judges would take anything like that into consideration.

"Because they are marked in three different categories – community participation, horticulture and environmental responsibility – they are looking for a holistic view of a city. It won't go against Edinburgh at all."

Agnes Stevenson, spokeswoman for Edinburgh-based Gardening Scotland, added: "They have very strict judging criteria and I really don't think that the bins will effect that at all. They use their criteria to judge absolutely everyone by and it's things like the quality of individual plants and whether plants are spaced properly.

"The judges will stick to their high standards and I still think Edinburgh stands a great chance, bin strike or not. It's a beautiful city and the parks are glorious. I do feel sorry for them, though."

John Stevenson, Unison branch president at the city council, said there is no guarantee that any industrial action will go ahead.

He added: "If Britain in Bloom are coming here it's at the invitation of the council which means they must be pretty proud of their gardening staff so you would think that might have extended to paying them a decent wage."