Town likened to a Parisian square

A councillor has hit out at Best Kept Village judges who described Bingham Market Place as drab and unremarkable.

Town and Rushcliffe borough councillor Mr Francis Purdue-Horan criticised remarks made by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which judges the annual Best Kept Village competition.

The town failed to make it through to the final round of the competition earlier this year.

The judges found some social housing owned by Metropolitan Housing Association had litter and poorly-maintained gardens with overgrown grass.

A noticeboard at Crow Close was dirty and difficult to read. The community noticeboard on Market Street needed cleaning, painting and maintaining.

Judges said some telephone boxes and letter boxes needed repairing. The library and health centre were labelled shabby and uninviting.

Mr Purdue-Horan said: “I’d like to know if they ended up somewhere else in the country, or if they arrived in Bingham and realised they needed an eye test.

“Depending on the light and the condition, in summer you could sometimes think you are in a Parisian square.

“I know the efforts that people in Bingham put in to make their buildings attractive. It is remarkable, not unremarkable.”

The town council is working on an action plan to tackle the comments.

However, many of the criticisms related to issues that are the responsibility of the borough council, Nottinghamshire County Council or other groups.

The town council has agreed to put pressure on these groups.

Town councillor Mr Alan Harvey agreed with Mr Purdue-Horan

“I would like the judges from CPRE to come back during our Christmas fair and see whether it’s drab and unremarkable,” he said.