Northallerton's chances in the Yorkshire in Bloom contest could have been scuppered by a second council blunder in the space of three months.

The mayor of Northallerton, Coun Jack Dobson, this week hit out at North Yorkshire County Council for its apparent lack of effort at its headquarters. He said the team of Britain in Bloom judges visiting the town last week had arrived at County Hall to find flowerbeds bereft of any flowers.

Speaking at a meeting of the town council on Monday, Coun Dobson said: "It is unfortunate that the one thing that marred the day was County Hall.

"They dug the flowers up and had intended to replace the borders. If they had left them in for a couple of days longer, I think we would have done better."

He said both Hambleton and the county council had done a lot of work to clean up the town. "Overall, it was a great effort by all those concerned. There was just that one black spot and it was slightly disappointing."

Judith Johnson, head of facilities management for North Yorkshire County Council, denied that the flowerbeds were empty.

"Some of the plants in there had lost their flowers," she said. "It costs us about £2,000 to change the flowers at County Hall and they are not in bloom all summer. Flowers don't last forever."

"There is a cost implication if we were to take them out and replace them three or four times a year. We want them to look as nice as we can, but we don't want to spend money frivolously. It is an issue of balancing the cost with the look of the place.

"I was not aware that the judges were coming round. If there is more co-ordination next year, that would obviously help."

It is the second time this year that local authority buildings have caused problems for the county town's Yorkshire in Bloom bid.

Northallerton lost out in the spring judging of the prestigious competition due to a blunder by Hambleton District Council. In their report, the judges noted that the beds and baskets at Stone Cross in Northallerton were either empty or full of dead flowers. This was blamed for the town slipping to second place in the rankings.

First farm market

THE first farmers' market in Leyburn will be held on Saturday, July 27, from 8am to 3.30