Former council gardener Peter Fawcett has condemned the closure of Bradley Nursery.

Mr Fawcett, 66, who retired from Kirklees Council’s parks department after 32 years, has been a long-time critic of how he claims the service has been run down.

Mr Fawcett, of Cleckheaton, spoke out after it was announced Bradley Nursery is to close, saying he believed the council wouldn’t save money.

“In my opinion the Bradley nursery is probably the most efficient in the country with the small number of staff it has.

“I have looked round the nursery and it has all the machinery.

"Some 60,000 polyanthus plants were replanted in just two-and-a-half days by four gardeners. That’s amazing.

“If Kirklees now goes out to buy in all its bedding plants they still have to be stored somewhere and someone has to water them. If they are left too long they will start dying. I don’t think this has been properly thought through.”

The nursery also provides all the hanging baskets put out in town centres every summer – and a team goes round every day watering them.

Mirfield Town Council bought 38 hanging baskets for the town centre this year at a cost of £1,400.

Clr James Taylor, who looks after the project, said he, too, opposed the closure of the nursery.

“We want to keep our town centres looking attractive and the council nursery helps us do that. I’ve spoken to a local garden centre who can supply 38 hanging baskets for about half the price of Kirklees but who is going to water them every day?”

Mr Fawcett said the council’s plans were a “shambles” and added: “They haven’t thought through the logistics.

“The council is going to lose the tradition of gardening and horticulture and our public gardens and parks will suffer.”