Browse Sections

• Education
• Roadworks
• Shipman
• Special reports

Team effort just flowers

Emilene Coventry
5/ 6/2008

TAMESIDE'S gardeners are crucial to this year’s bid to win the Britain in Bloom crown.

In the second of a series of articles the Advertiser is running in partnership with the In Bloom team, project head Councillor Dave Sweeton explains what led them onto the path of success.

"Traditionally, In Bloom entries were not given the support by the council’s policies and strategies that they deserved and now has in place. Because of this it was little wonder our results weren’t the best.

"It wasn’t until my appointment in 2004, when I quickly developed the action team made up of all our own staff, that we saw a marked improvement. Our staff had been arguing for years that they would be able to deliver the best bid possible, so we gave them the chance and the borough hasn’t looked back since," he said.

It led to Tameside’s success in 2005 with the first of a trio of North West In Bloom winners, a title the borough has won every year since.

Councillor Sweeton added: "Because of this success and subsequent impact on many areas of the council’s work – which had been totally unforeseen beforehand – senior councillors and the executive team began to realise that In Bloom was not just about flowers, it had a direct and proportional positive impact on inward investment, health and crime and disorder, to name a few.

"Overnight all members and employees got on board with what we were trying to do. District Assemblies, planners, engineers, everyone now had a role to play in bringing continued success for the borough."

Click on the video window for a look back at the 2007 competition ...