Planting flowers by the road? You'll need a licence and £5m insurance

A village has been locked in a bureaucratic nightmare - over two small flowerbeds.
To the residents of Everton in Nottinghamshire, the blooms added a splash of colour to an already picturesque corner of rural England.

But to county council officials, they represented a health and safety risk which had to be licensed and regulated.

It informed the village's parish council that a "licence to cultivate" was required.

The accident investigation department also had to be consulted in case the flower beds caused a motoring hazard.

Even then, the display couldn't be planted, because utility companies needed to be formally consulted in case the planting caused them a problem.

And, of course, public liability insurance - with cover for at least £5million - had to be taken out.

In the face of all this, it's perhaps not surprising that Everton's 770 residents decided to give up on the idea.