Vigilante gardener fed up with ‘hideous’ potholes plants flowers in cracked roads in his leafy Sussex town
A Sussex man is waging war against his council in a very unusual way: by planting flowers in potholes in the road.
Harry Smith-Haggett has planted greenery along Horsham’s roads to draw council attention to the ‘appalling’ state of the streets.
The landscape architect posts his creative work on TikTok. One of his videos went viral, reaching 2.7 million views.
But West Sussex County Council (WSCC) has urged people to stay off the roads for safety reasons, saying people are ‘risking their lives’ by taking to the motorway.
The authority, which currently spends 6.7 percent of its budget on highways and transport, said it understands “frustrations” and has therefore released more resources to tackle potholes.
Harry Smith-Haggett has planted greenery on Horsham’s roads to draw council attention to their ‘appalling’ state
The gardener has posted his work as a watchdog on TikTok, with one of his videos going viral and receiving 2.7 million views
Mr Smith-Haggett said he started filling the potholes with flowers because he was “just fed up” with the state of the roads.
Mr Smith-Haggett said he started filling the potholes with flowers because he was “just fed up” with the state of the roads.
He told the BBC: ‘There have been people who have been complaining about the potholes in Horsham for years.
“I just wanted to bring a little bit of joy and right now it seems to be working.”
The community activist said some of the holes where he had planted flowers have now been filled in.
He claims he wanted to come up with a way to draw attention to the potholes ‘without it being dangerous or causing a problem’.
While filling the holes, Mr Smith-Haggett wears a special pink vest with the words ‘Pretty Pot Holes’ printed on the back.
One of the videos shows Mr Smith-Haggett covering seven potholes on one street with colourful floral decorations.
The videos have proven popular online, with dozens of people commenting with tips and compliments about his work.
Another video shows Mr Smith-Haggett emptying buckets of what he describes as ‘high-quality topsoil’ into holes and then using a trowel to spread the soil evenly over the hole.
Then he picks up a plant and says, “I don’t know what this plant is called, but it’s a beautiful plant that we also work with.”
After placing the flower pot in the holes filled with newly acquired soil, he says, “I think that will allow our roots to grow nicely.”
The videos have proven to be very popular online with dozens of people commenting positively on his work or encouraging him to come to their area next time.
Some commenters also gave him gardening tips to help his plants take root more easily in their new, hole-in-the-wall home.
A WSCC spokesman said: ‘We take the maintenance and repair of roads in West Sussex very seriously and have increased our resources to tackle potholes and improve road conditions.’
The council recently announced that in the 2023/24 budget, council tax will increase by 4.99 per cent per year, with the cost expected to rise to £1,633 for the average Band D home.