THE recently planted roundabouts in Pembroke and Pembroke Dock towns are, again, a joy to behold.

They are pleasing features for both locals and visitors and, every year, they are well and professionally maintained.

Last year the newly landscaped roundabouts on the A477 at Sageston and Milton also appeared to be welcoming sights, possibly a little ambitious and costly: after all, they are on the gateway to South Pembrokeshire and its port.

This year, however, they are a disgrace, with large quantities of flowering and seeding weeds. Not only are they unsightly but a source of trouble and cost for years to come.

The old garden adage of ‘One year seeding gives seven years of weeding’ is one that should be taken on board by whoever is responsible for this neglect: possibly a different authority?

Like so many schemes I have seen in recent decades, money is all too often spent on capital projects without any thought as to long-term costs.

Large quantities of bark applied to newly planted schemes are not, in themselves, the answer to maintenance.

You still need competent people, in the correct place at the correct time, if these grandiose schemes are not to become an expensive blot on the environment.

As a professional horticulturalist (retired) I feel that many of these projects are sanctioned by people who have no understanding of the realities of working with living plants. Perhaps a more natural scheme would have been easier, and cheaper, to maintain in such a semirural setting.

JOHN ROBERTS

Pembroke