Neill O’Neill
THE WESTPORT Tidy Towns Committee have expressed their dismay following the destruction last Thursday night of flower pots they placed on Altamont Street just six weeks ago.
Three large pots had been placed on upper Altamont Street between the railway bridge and the train station and will all now have to be replaced at the expense of the Tidy Towns Committee. It is a double blow for the committee who are looking to defend their hard-won national tidy towns title as the judging season for this year’s competition is under way, and the judges, who work in an anonymous capacity, could swoop on Westport at any time.
One of the pots was stolen over two weeks ago and during last week’s incident another was turned over while a third was smashed to pieces and strewn across the road. The Tidy Towns Committee had sought funding and sponsorship from local businesses and volunteers and had bought, installed and maintained the pots on their own time prior to them being destroyed.
Chairperson of the Westport Tidy Towns Committee, Eithne Larkin, said she was dismayed and disheartened by the destruction of the pots which she described as ‘mindless vandalism’.
“This type of thing is disappointing at any time of the year but in summer it is particularly so with the the town blooming and because the judging for the tidy towns is under way. For all we know the judges were in Westport last week and could have stumbled upon this last Friday morning which would be detrimental to our campaign and ruin the hard work of so many volunteers over the past few months.
“We have sponsorship letters out at the moment and no penny is wasted by the committee but the money we spend on beautifying the town is wasted by incidents like this which are a huge drain on our limited resources” she said.
Cllr Declan Dever, who discovered the vandalism on his way into town last Friday, said it was the work of a ‘real hard man’. “It must have taken a real tough guy to break a pot plant,” he said.
