Daventry Town Council could take over the maintenance of one of the ‘gateways’ to the town centre over worries the site is becoming an ‘eyesore’.
The issue of the Twinning Garden was raised at a meeting of DTC on Monday, September 8 when councillors supported the possible take-over of the site from Daventry District Council and its contractors Amey.
The garden is located at the roundabout on London Road and New Street on a key road in to the town centre.
DTC, which is currently responsible for managing the war memorial, has been alarmed by damage to the commemorative twinning display, thought to caused by mowers or skateboards, as well as the lack of flowers where previously there had been entire beds planted.
Cllr Wendy Randall said: “That area was once the prettiest place in Daventry. But now so many people say it is just an eyesore.
“No care is taken in its maintenance. It is no longer kept well. The pride has gone.”
Town councillor Lynne Taylor met officials from DDC on Tuesday to discuss environmental matters and littering issues on the garden site after receiving complaints received from residents critical of how the town is being maintained by the current contract holders.
She will put forward a formal proposal at a town council meeting in October.
Cllr Taylor said: “I feel that the garden was not really being maintained. I have seen glass in the garden and dog mess.
“It hasn’t been planted up with flowers and plants have been put in late. It is scruffy, like the rest of the town. How many of us a week go down London Road, round the roundabout to the nearby surgery?
“It is very, very obvious from the road. It could be really special.”
Cllr Taylor said she would be working with Mavis Matthews of the Daventry Twinning Association to reach a short-term solution.
The garden was originally established to commemorate the twinning of Daventry and the German town of Westerburg in October 1985. The design includes commemorative shields, a stone monument, flagpoles and flower beds.