In This Issue
That was the year that was... 2021
Large Fire at Longacres Shepperton - UPDATED
Tributes for Eddie Topping MBE, Founder, Pioneer, Dad
An Open Letter on the use of peat
We're Here For You
Blue Diamond to open the largest Home and Garden Centre in the UK
Altons BBQ World, Aylett Nurseries, Barton Grange, Baytree, Busy Bee, Groves, Pengelly, Pughs, The Old Railway Line and Squires Badshot Lea are the winners of GTN's Greatest Christmas Awards for 2020
Barton Grange Christmas 2020 - Exclusive GTN Xtra Photo Tour
£31m loss reported by Dobbies Garden Centre Group
Garden centre owners share their thoughts on being open during Lockdown 3
British Garden Centres announce 58th centre, in Harrogate, will open in April
Antony Harker to launch Altico at Glee - Read GTN's August issue on-line now
Nicholas Marshall returns... again
Four Oaks trade show director Pat Coutts sadly dies
Garden centres report busiest ever day as gardens are the focus for family re-unions this week - More comments added
Nicholas Marshalls Country House Group pulls out of Windlesham
Suez Canal blockage causes further delays for garden furniture
Joules acquires digitally led retailer Garden Trading
Easter thank you to growers, manufacturers & distributors from British Garden Centres
Elho takes top prize as GIMA Award winners announced
Sustainable decking brand invests in technology to aid its stockist partners
Bill Bickerdike, one of "the gang", has died
Westland call for reality to be brought to the peat debate
Picture Special of the glitzy GIMA Awards evening
Dobbies buy Johnsons of Boston
Government publishes plan to ban peat sales by 2024
Signs of growth for after lockdown
Has the sales volume bubble burst?
Dobbies No 71 opens in Boston, Lincolnshire
Nicholas Marshall interview and Solex On-Line Preview in GTN July 2021 Issue, live on-line now
£1.8m reward for Choice Marketing members
Smart, Kaemingk and Allensmore are Choice Marketing Suppliers of the Year
Alton's praised for tough stance on facemasks
Former LOFA secretary Phil Gibbs receives prison sentence for fraud
Blue Diamond acquires Mere Park Garden Centre
UK’s largest garden centre should get green light, say planning officers
GIMA Golf Day Photo Exclusive
Cherry Lane acquires Langford Garden Centre
Who have been the best buyers of the past eighteen months?
Industry prepares for a peat-less future
Derek Bunker adds his thanks to suppliers for "their efforts throughout this amazing period in garden centre history"
Shed prices set to soar
David Isaac says farewell to Johnsons of Boston
Europlants founder Renato Canale dies, aged 78
East Yorkshire garden centre sells for £1.5m
Petition to get Garden Centres in Scotland and Wales open again as soon as possible gains momentum, but they still need our help
BGC's Harrogate centre opens - Exclusive photo tour
Tong gets go-ahead to build £14m garden centre
57 garden centres vie for Christmas Greatness in GTN's Greatest Christmas Awards
Garden Re-Leaf Day 2021 FUNdraising goes past £35k and is still growing...
With eight weeks to go until Glee 2021, show organisers unveil a new date for next year’s event
Get your copy of GTN Xtra
Online petition launched to get Welsh garden centres re-opened – sign it NOW!
Farewell to the Eddie Topping, the Preston pioneer - UPDATED
GCA Christmas competition winners announced
Martin Stewart leads industry tributes at Memorial Service for Eddie Topping
Joe Swift opens The Plant Room by Camden Garden Centre in Richmond
GIMA Charity Golf Day welcomes the industry back with a day of sunshine and friendly competition
Christmas Future Trends and GTN's Greatest Christmas Awards Winners to be announced during Glee's on-line Festive Focus Day
Alan Roper wins Director of the Year Award
After a fantastic three days at the NEC, the return to Glee "has been really special"
Boyd's 100km in a day and AMES Amble add to the Garden Re-Leaf Day FUNdraising for Greenfingers
Online garden products retailer sold to private equity firm
little dobbies opens its doors in Bristol
AMES UK invest more than £1m in infrastructure and people in response to increasing market demand
Garden Centres re-open in Scotland... and it snows!
Sue Allen and Tammy Woodhouse to Brave the Shave on Garden Re-Leaf Day
Little Dobbies brings Garden Centre Christmas and houseplants to Richmond High Street
Eddie Topping retires
LOFA reports increased freight rates and container crisis
Excited to be back at Glee - GTN September, Glee Preview Issue, on-line here
Private equity group acquires leading garden product firm
Pearson Memorial medal awarded to Adam Wigglesworth of Aylett Nurseries
Turbo charged gardening as February breaks all records
Record end to a record year, up 28% on 2020, up 17% on 2019
Industry taskforce to produce roadmap for a peat-free future
AMES UK reports record revenues in 2020
Wildlife Trusts call for immediate end to peat sales
Hillmount boss warns of disarray for gardeners in Northern Ireland as spring approaches
Christmas Future Trends at Glee's Festive Focus Day
Future proofing your garden centre for maximum flexibility and profitability
No bubble burst yet for garden centre sales volumes
Garden Kitchen by Pugh's is a unique concept
Dobbies strengthens leadership team
Hetland Garden Centre sold to Caulders
Immediate ban on peat use unrealistic, says HTA
The COVID year in numbers
Fordingbridge undertakes major work at Norfolk centre
Lull in sales before mid-Summer
New brands confirmed for Glee 2021
The new revolutionary smokeless fire pit
Pershore School Horticultural Unit, Pershore High School, Worcestershire has unwanted visitors.
Choice Marketing readies ‘Meet the Furniture Buyer’ event
The BBQ game changer!
Sales up by 49% compared to previous nine years, despite being closed for Easter Sunday
Monkton Elm and Old Railway Line scoop top Wales & West honours in GCA Awards
Expansion for family-owned garden lifestyle business
Moving on up… slowly
One good week and gardening sales get going
Glee to return in September 2021
Ho, Ho, Ho! GTN’s Greatest Christmas Awards are back…for real!
Dobbies reports 51% increase in sales
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to the GTN Bestsellers printed weekly newsletter
12 page GIMA Awards Special in GTN November/December 2021 Issue available on-line
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Government publishes plan to ban peat sales by 2024
No 25 Most read story in 2021 - From GTN Xtra Issue 20 2021
 

The Environment Secretary, George Eustice, will today speak from Delamere Forest when he will confirm that the Government will ban sales of peat products by the end of this Parliament, subject to public consultation this year.

 

In the England Peat Action plan, published this morning, George Eustace says: "In recent decades, progress has also been made in developing alternatives to the use of peat in horticulture, with the consistency of substitutes like coir improving. Peatland soils and the habitats they support should be nurtured, not mined, and this Action Plan sets out measures to accelerate the switch to the use of alternatives, starting first with bans on the sale of peat for amateur use by the end of this parliament, and gradually moving to alternatives for other commercial sectors over time."

 

The text within the plan regarding peat use in amateur and professional horticulture is as follows:

 

Future vision: horticultural peat

 

In 2011, the government set out its ambition for the horticultural sector in England to be peat free by 2030, with voluntary targets for a peat free amateur sector by 2020 and the professional sector by 2030. We note that there has been some progress by particular manufacturers, retailers and growers. For example, the UK’s soft fruit industry have successfully transitioned from using peat to coir. However, the voluntary approach has not succeeded overall; as shown by Figure 2 the total volume of peat sold in the UK is 25% lower in 2019 compared to 2011 but is still way off our ambition. The volume of peat sold in the UK rose by 9% in 2020 due to unprecedented demand throughout the year and the impact of the global pandemic on the supply chains for alternative materials. We set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan that if we had not seen sufficient movement to peat alternatives by 2020, we will look at introducing further measures. Further action is clearly required to continue to drive the transition to peat alternatives and to support the industry to overcome barriers to this transition.

 

We will formally consult on a range of potential legislative measures in 2021, as well as seeking views on the support the industry will require to make a successful transition. In particular, we will seek to make swift progress in phasing out the use of peat in the amateur sector and will be exploring a range of different types of measures that will achieve this.

 


Figure 2. Volume of peat (m3) sold in the UK between 2011 to 2019 - Growing Media Association (2021) UK Growing Media Monitor report

 

Two thirds of the peat sold in the UK is imported from the rest of Europe. This means we are effectively exporting our carbon footprint. We shall continue to focus on reducing demand for peat in horticulture, recognising the need to protect not only England’s peatland, but peatland in other countries affected by the current demand in England.

 

The UK’s amateur sector makes up ~80% of horticultural peat use. We are starting to see retailers voluntarily committing to stocking only peat-free products, and we welcome the leadership demonstrated by these retailers. Evidence suggests that consumers continue to misuse bagged peat-based products, for example using them to improve the quality of garden soil, where other products such as manure or green compost would be much more appropriate and beneficial.

 

We will work with the industry to identify how we can increase the resilience of the supply of alternative materials. Coir dust (from coconut husks), wood fibre and bark have shown great promise as replacements for peat and are included in many of the products on the market today. Sphagnum farming on lowland peatlands in England offers the opportunity to source more alternative materials within the UK as well as providing a more sustainable use of our agricultural peatlands. Therefore, the Lowland Agricultural Peat Task Force will work with the growing media industry to develop its roadmap to commercially viable paludiculture.
 
Natural England’s Peat Pilots programme recently shone a light on the practice of grass turf production on peat (which harvests thin layers of peat) and its potential impact on greenhouse gas emissions. The Great Manchester pilot estimated that there is 151.20 hectares of turf production on Chat Moss, and the East Anglian Fens pilot found several turf growers and suppliers of fen topsoil operating in the area. It has proved difficult to arrive at an estimate of the area of total turf production on peat in England and we currently have no formal emission factor for the practice. We have also identified other, less widespread, uses of peat ranging from its presence in cosmetics to its use in the English whiskey industry. These wider uses of peat require further investigation and as such our consultation will also seek to broaden our understanding of these wider considerations.

 

Actions:

We will consult on banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur sector by the end of this parliament. We will publish a full consultation in 2021 to examine the feasibility of the following measures, to end the use of horticultural peat in both the amateur and professional sectors:

●    Setting absolute deadlines to ban the sale of peat in both the amateur and professional sectors.
●    Introducing a point-of-sale charge for the purchase of growing media containing peat. This could use the plastic bag charge as a model.
●    Mandating all sellers of horticultural products containing peat, including plants, to publicly report on the volume of peat they sell each year (in bags or plant pots).
●    Issuing a call for evidence on the wider uses of peat and peat products in the retail sector; for example - grass turf production, cosmetics and industries where peat forms part of the production process.

 

We will also:

●    Continue to work with the industry to understand the implications of these proposals, identify blockages and work across government and the private sector to develop and enact solutions.
●    Work with and challenge the horticultural sector to reduce the reliance on peat in growing media and associated products in order to prepare the sector for legislation.
●    Continue to support the industry’s Responsible Sourcing Scheme for Growing Media to ensure that the environmental footprint of peat alternatives is minimised.
●    Actively promote the benefits of peat-free growing media to gardeners through public awareness and education; to help shift the demand to peat-free alternatives in advance of legislation, and to soils improvers where they are more appropriate.
●    Identify opportunities to work with the devolved administrations to develop a UK wide approach to horticultural peat and related products.

 

The England Peat Action Plan can be accessed here

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