PLANS for thousands of pounds worth of blooming summer displays across the town are drying up as the hosepipe ban takes its toll.

Swindon Council, which has ordered £10,000 worth of seasonal bedding plants, is in talks with suppliers to see whether they can swap their order for more drought-resistant varieties.

It comes after the hosepipe ban was put in place last week. If they cannot change their plants before they are delivered they may have to sell them to the public or barter with garden centres.

Swindon Council’s StreetSmart manager, Richard Fisher, said: “This is the first time the council has been affected by the hosepipe ban. Previously it has just been householders. Now it has expanded to include parks and open spaces. We are not able to use mains water to water our plants.

“We normally do three or four sets of planting bulbs on roundabouts and parks and spaces but now we won’t be able to water them, so we have taken the decision that we are not able to plant them.”

The plants, which are being paid for through the council tax funded revenue budget for StreetSmart, have not yet been delivered.

Mr Fisher said they will have to wait and see if they can get more suitable varieties instead. But if they cannot change them, they will consider other options.

“We wouldn’t want to see them go to no use. We are thinking about whether we could sell them to members of the public. Nothing has been decided yet but we will consider that as an option,” he said.

“There are other plants we can have that are more drought resistant. We may try to use them to barter with garden centres and we will take different plants.

“Another option is getting them delivered or planted in a different location, somewhere that doesn’t need watering, like our country parks where the soil would be wetter.

“We are trying to work out our best options. When we have heard back from the suppliers we will know.”

Thames Water, which serves the town, was one of seven water firms to ban hosepipes last week as the Environment Agency warned of severe drought in the coming months. The use of watering cans and buckets of tap water is still legal.

The ban has also affected the launch of the splash park at Coate Water and the council will not be able to water the bowling greens or golf courses either.