COUNCIL officials at Barrow Borough Council have spent more than £160,000 on flowers in three years, The Mail can exclusively reveal.

Barrow Council has spent more than £166,000 on flower displays since 2017.

Details have been revealed in a Freedom of Information Request submitted by The Mail.

The money was spent on creating and maintaining flower displays across the borough.

Between 2017 and 2018 the council spent £55,004. The following years it was £56,410 then £54,885. This totals £166,299 between 2017 and 2020.

Cllr Ann Thomson, leader of Barrow Council, said: “Like councils up and down the country, we maintain the borough and want to make people proud of our town.

“Many homes in our town centre don’t have gardens. The hanging baskets and displays not only give everyone the chance to enjoy colourful displays, they enhance our rich built heritage and provide a boost to people’s mental and physical wellbeing.

“They are also fantastic for bees and pollinators - something we are keen to encourage.

“We make use of economies of scale in the purchase of plants for the borough through local suppliers so we get maximum value for money. They also happen to have the best begonias we’ve ever seen.

“We make this spend stretch a long way, but we consider it a small price to pay for the benefits it brings to so many.”