Gardenex and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) have thrown their support behind industry-wide rallying calls for a softening of trading restrictions at UK garden centres and nurseries during the Covid19 crisis.
The plight of growers and retailers has prompted the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) to ask the government to allow a controlled reopening of the plant and garden essentials sections of the centres.
At the same time Gardenex and the CHA have also been adding to the combined industry voice to highlight the potential devastation to the gardening and commercial horticulture sectors.
Director General Amanda Sizer Barrett said: “We have been supporting the call to the wider industry by briefing the government departments with whom we work – the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy – with all the information gathered by HTA and ourselves from individual suppliers and growers.
“We have also been researching the situations in markets round the world. In many countries garden centres are still open, albeit with strict social distancing, and we have been collating these examples, sending updates to our government connections and are tracking developments weekly. This week, for instance, the Prime Minister of Austria announced that if citizens respected social distancing appropriately, the government was considering the reopening of ‘non-essential‘ retail outlets such as garden centres from mid-April.
“I have also had confirmation that the subject of the crisis among growers and plant retailers is being raised at a meeting with our sectoral lead at the ATO (Agri-Tech Organisation) within government.
“We will do whatever we can to aid the industry’s efforts to lobby for support, as it is now more important than ever for all our associations to work together on behalf of our sector.”
Contact Gardenex and the CHA if you require further advice and assistance:
Tel: +44 (0) 44 1959 565995
Email: info@gardenex.com info@cha-hort.com
Website: www.gardenex.com www.cha-hort.com