RESIDENTS and flower lovers are blooming fuming after a council's Daff Destroyers prevented spring arriving on the borough's verges for the second year running.

Blackburn with Darwen Council workmen have signalled their intentions by mowing down a 350-yard stretch of wild daffodils in Haslingden Road, Blackburn.

The flowers were set to bloom in the next few weeks in time for spring, which officially begins on March 20.

Late last March, people in the Witton and Feniscowles areas of Blackburn accused council bosses of vandalism for permitting workers to chop the wild flowers before they had bloomed.

Today residents branded the move stupid, with an opposition councillor demanding to know why councillors hadn't been consulted before the decision.

And Ribble Valley MP and Welshman Nigel Evans, whose national flower is the daffodil, said the council should explain to employees the difference between a flower and a weed.

Council officers said the policy kept verges tidy where there had been complaints in previous years that the grass looked overgrown once the daffodils had died.

This is because daffodils need to be left for six weeks after flowering to store enough energy to survive the following year, so the grass around them can grow quite long while an area is not mown regularly.

They said they had planted thousands of bulbs in public open spaces elsewhere in the borough, where they are tended by gardeners.

But other local councils today said the mess was worthwhile because 'that's the price you pay for something that looks nice'.

They said their policies were to mow over daffodils after leaving them for the six week period.

Jack Holt, 71, of Haslingden Road, said he was one of those people who complained because the dead daffodils were left -- but he said that was because they had been ignored for months and the grass around them had grown to several feet high.

He said: "This is stupid. We only wanted the grass cutting as soon as the daffodils had died.

"They have done it when they were just ready to open.

"When they are in bloom it makes the area look a lot better, but we won't see that this year now."

Nature expert Ron Freethy said residents of Haslingden Road may not see daffodils next year either, as the bulbs would almost certainly be killed.

Nigel Evans added: "We have just had one of the most rotten winters and daffodils are one of the first signs that spring is on its way for a lot of people.

"They are nature's beauty shining through, but the council seem to think they know better.

"The council should instruct its employees to preserve the daffodils and explain the difference between a flower and a weed."

Peter Hunt, director of direct services at Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "To tidy up the borough the council has implemented a grass cutting programme.

"This cuts the grass back leaving it very tidy and also improves the overall appearance of the streets.

"Unfortunately we are never going to be able to please everyone and we have to balance the desire for a tidy borough with the love of flowers.

"This council is unlike many others and does have a proactive planting programme when thousands of bulbs and plants are placed around the borough every year in areas of open space for people to enjoy. These are grown and tended by our gardeners and do improve the overall image of the borough."

Liberal Democrat leader on Blackburn with Darwen Council, Coun Paul Browne, said: "Who could possibly have made such a policy? I can't think of a committee anywhere who would have done that, and I will certainly be looking into this and finding out who ordered that to go on."

Coun Colin Rigby, leader of the Conservative group, said: "The ruling group has a bad policy on cutting grass anyway. They don't collect the cuttings so they get into drains and cost four times as much to clear afterwards.

"I suppose it's a difficult situation because people seem to complain either way about daffodils, if they are left or cut down. If it was my decision I would leave them till they have died and then cut them down."

A spokesman for Hyndburn Council said: "The mess is the price you pay for something that looks nice to start with.

"We let them grow and bloom, then leave them for six weeks after they've died before mowing over."

And a spokesman for Burnley Borough Council said: "We endeavour to leave the grass for six to eight weeks after the daffodils have flowered."