Penrith Town Council has agreed to give £4,000 towards this year’s summer floral displays, helping transform Penrith into a sea of colour once again.
Councillors approved the funding at a meeting on Monday evening, awarding the grant to Penrith BID, which organises the town centre planting each year. The BID had requested the contribution to support the cost of hanging baskets, barrier baskets, pyramid planters and square planters across the town.
The £4,000 from the town council forms part of the Penrith BiD’s annual £47,000 floral displays around the town centre. Penrith BID is contributing £30,000 from its levy on local businesses, along with a further £12,000 raised through sponsorship and the sale of baskets to businesses.
This summer, more than 200 hanging baskets are planned across the town centre, with an expansion of displays along key routes into the town using lamppost baskets. The large pyramid planters are also set to be repositioned to improve their visual impact.
Alongside baskets sold directly to businesses, the scheme includes 31 hanging baskets around the Musgrave Monument and along Middlegate and King Street, 22 barrier baskets on pedestrian railings in Market Square, Corney Square and Southend Road, 11 beehive planters placed at key locations, 42 lamppost baskets on main routes into the town centre, and 35 square planters installed throughout the town centre and refreshed twice a year with seasonal planting.
Despite the scale of the investment, the BID board was recently told the 2025 greening scheme has gone over budget. Some unsold hanging baskets have been passed to Richardson’s for retail sale, while members were informed in January that around 100 baskets had been sold so far this year.
Westmorland and Furness Council has also confirmed that in 2025 it spent £16,640 on annual planting and £3,346 on perennials in local flower beds.
Despite tens of thousands of pounds being spent on floral displays across the town, Penrith has not been entered into the annual Cumbria in Bloom competition in recent years.
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