MHK plants daffodils in potholes to highlight road issues

Michelle Haywood said she would continue planting flowers until action was taken to fix the road

An MHK has planted daffodils in potholes in a main road through a southern village to highlight the condition of the road.

Michelle Haywood said she carried out the "guerrilla gardening" to emphasise the "serious" issue along Port St Mary High Street.

Dr Haywood said the concerns over problems with the road dated back at least eight years to her time on the local authority for the area.

Infrastructure Minister Tim Crookall told Tynwald in February that the carriageway had failed and a business case for funding for its reconstruction was due to be submitted to Treasury.

Dr Haywood said planting the flowers was a "very concerted attempt on my part to draw attention to this and really flag it up and get people talking".

She said she would continue to highlight the issue in a similar way until progress was made, including planting geraniums in the summer, winter pansies and "Christmas trees if I have to".

The flowers were planted in potholes on the carriageway

Dr Haywood acknowledged the problems with the road were "not a quick fix" and would need "six months of disruption" to rectify due to issues under the road surface to do with the sewage pipeline, which was further complicated by water mains, gas, and telecommunications cables.

She said while it was a "complicated project", she and her fellow Rushen MHK Juan Watterson had had "repeated discussions" with the department about it but it felt like there was "no progress being made".

The Rushen MHK said while she did not expect the flowers "to last", and the road had already become "like a daffodil graveyard", she would keep going to highlight the issues.

The Department of Infrastructure (DOI) has been contacted for a response.