Midlothian council have apologised for not communicating with a group of volunteers after removing flowers they spent two years planting.
The Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners have spent 24 months litter-picking and looking after the public flowerbeds on Main Street in Newtongrange to improve the area and were devastated to see the flowers ripped out.
A spokesperson for Midlothian Council confirmed they are 'really sorry' for the lack of communication and that the flowers and trees were removed with the intention of putting them back to the same standard the garden area was before.
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The council also thanked the community volunteers for their hard work and hopes to have a positive working relationship in the future.
The volunteer group said: "The Guerrilla Gardeners are gutted! After two years of us planting, weeding, litter-picking and maintaining the area around the Miners’ Wheel, today Midlothian Council ripped out and disposed of all the plants on either side of the wheel.
"Some of these were grown from seed, some were grown by local residents in their gardens, some were bought with money kindly donated by locals."
They continued: "We managed to speak to someone at the council and asked them to stop before they removed all the plants on the pavement side too.
"We are gutted for everyone who donated their time, effort and money to brighten up this area."
A Midlothian Council spokesman said: “The bedded area at Newtongrange is being replanted as part of a scheduled programme of improvements that also includes tidying, cleaning and replacing the cobbles and painting the wheel.
“The intention was always to return the planted area around the wheel to the previous standard."
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They added: “We are really sorry for not communicating this to the Newtongrange community. Our Land and Countryside manager has contacted the Newtongrange Guerrilla Gardeners to apologise and arrange to meet with them.
"We want to make sure we plant what the community wish to see blooming.
“We’d like to thank the gardeners for taking the time to improve their local environment and we look forward to developing a positive working relationship in the future.”
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