Vexed locals in Cornwall have branded their town council ‘bonkers’ after 1,000 daffodils were cut down in a play area due to ‘health and safety fears’.
Officials at St Blaise Town Council have warned the flowers can be poisonous if eaten and could give children diarrhoea.
A controversial new policy bans new bulbs at the Old Roselyon Play Area for the foreseeable future.
‘After recent play inspection training we were advised not to have daffodils in play areas as all parts of the daffodil can be poisonous’, a council spokesperson said.
‘I brought this to the attention of the town council who said no more daffs should be planted but those that were there before the land was devolved to us would stay.
‘The daffs are sporadic over a grassed area and once the flowers have died the grass will be cut.’
But a spokesman for Roselyon Play Park Committee has slammed the decision as ‘preposterous’.
He said: ‘Are they going to put signs up saying don’t eat the daffodils next? This is totally bonkers.
‘There have always been daffs in the park. It used to be an old orchard and there must have been about 1,000 flowers.
‘Most of them have now been cut down. And to say that it’s because they are toxic to children if they eat them is crazy.’
One part of Old Roselyon Play Area is normally so full with the spring flowers, it was nicknamed ‘Daffodil Walk’.
A spokesman for South West Health Protection Unit confirmed daffodils can be toxic to eat, but added that most people recover fully without treatment.
People living in the area left no doubt about their feelings when they angrily took to social media.
‘When I was in primary school every year we were given a daffodil bulb to grow, we got certificates for the best’, one person fumed.
‘Funny I don’t remember trying to eat them or anyone being poisoned.’
‘This should be in the hands of the police, sheer vandalism, sack whoever made this bonkers decision.’
Another added: ‘This is the most ridiculous actions from a town council I’ve ever heard of.
‘Let’s get rid of all the bees and wasps, let’s make sure no one ever gets stung my a stinging nettle, let’s cut down all trees.’
Someone else quipped: ‘Daffodils are also poisonous to dogs, even my mutt has the common sense not to eat them.’
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