Stevie Rogers, chairman, Dartmouth Green Partnerships, writes:

Bayard’s Cove is indeed a ‘jewel in Dartmouth’s crown’, and Dartmouth Green Partnerships has tried hard to provide sustainable planting displays there.

Philip Roe is to be com­mended for taking care of his ­hanging baskets outside his front door, and clearly he loves the place. But his view seems not to be shared by others in the cove.

The article ‘People “ashamed over state of historic cove”’, Chronicle, June 24, was correct in saying that a local resident had verbally abused volunteers planting the tubs in the cove a couple of seasons ago.

All the planting, baskets and tubs in the cove are provided by DGP out of funds from local councils, sponsors and donations, without financial support from residents in the cove.

DGP plants up 100 hanging baskets for Dartmouth, all with reservoirs, which we pay South Hams Council to water.

Two seasons ago, when we were going to place some of these new baskets and new pedestals in Bayard’s Cove, Mr Roe objected strongly. Due to problems with access for the water bowser into Bayard’s Cove, we have to rely on ­plantings, which need very ­little water. When we used ­traditional wire hanging ­baskets in the cove instead, they dried out due to lack of watering.

Our small DGP team of ­volunteers is fully stretched in taking care of the many areas in Dartmouth for which we are responsible. We do not have the time or the manpower, without help from the cove’s residents, to maintain the type of flower displays that Mr Roe wants.

The current hanging baskets in the cove, provided by DGP, which Mr Rowe describes as ‘scraggy, non-flowering cactus-type things’, in fact were praised by the Royal Horticultural Society judges last year and have proved extremely sustainable in what is a harsh environment in the cove.

They lasted throughout the winter with no maintenance. The two tubs have been planted with new flower displays.

Mr Rowe does not mention the state of the historic pebbled surface in Bayard’s Cove, which is green with weeds due to a lack of spraying and ­weeding by South Hams Council.

This problem is manifest throughout the town, where streets are full of weeds and many areas, such as steep steps, are slippery and unsafe.

DGP was marked down by RHS judges in last year’s Britain in Bloom contest as a result of weeds on the streets.

Since then the problem has become much worse as South Hams Council’s resources have dwindled.

We have made many efforts to get the district council to spray and weed as part of a proper maintenance regime, with limited success – occas­ional efforts are not enough, and there are issues over the use of glyphosates.

The level of weeds everywhere is now so bad that we considered removing ourselves from the 2016 South West in Bloom contest. The judges will be here on July 20 and will see what they will see. We are ­concerned that simply spraying and cleaning up the judges’ route does not even begin to solve the problem.

In the meantime, we are very busy. Readers will have noticed the new English Cottage Garden in Royal Avenue Gardens, and the new planted boats on the potager and in Royal Avenue Gardens – this one planted up with our help by Dartmouth Academy pupils. We have also the challenge of raising funds to build the new community greenhouse.

We are in desperate need of more volunteers to help with planting displays and fund­raising. Without further help to take care of the areas we tend and the increasing demands upon our time due to council cutbacks, the floral displays in the town will begin to suffer.

Please get in touch if you can help us in any way to maintain Dartmouth’s award-winning floral displays. Email either myself, DGP chairman, at [email protected], or the secretary Kathy Stansfield at [email protected].