WESTON'S 89-year-old floral clock has been concreted because no-one has volunteered to water the flowers.

Locals are outraged after the much-loved display was 'wiped out' by the group who look after it.

Weston-super-Mare's Lions Club had been maintaining the landmark for the past decade.

Weston Mercury:

But it says they cannot maintain the flowers any more and have decided to make it easier to maintain.

North Somerset Council said it did not give permission for the concreting.

People have taken to social media, describing the act as "vandalism", "dreadful", "wrong", "bizarre", "lazy" and "devastating".

One said: "Where was the call out to the community to help with new ideas? Why concrete?!?! Whose idea was that?!"

Another said: "This seems a very drastic solution.

"I hope the group approached the town council and local environmental groups before making this decision."

One post said: "Oh my CONCRETE - not very environmentally friendly."

Chick Parkin, president of the Weston Lions, told the BBC: "Over the last three years we found it harder and harder to look after the clock.

"We put out a plea last year for people to come out and help us water it, but only two people reacted to our cry for help."

The clock was built in 1935 and then restored in 1951.

Mr Parkin said the Lions had been watering the flowers three times a week in summer and it was still not enough to keep them alive.

The club says an artist will paint a mural of sunflowers on the concrete and there will be permanent flowers to attract bees.

Cllr Mike Solomon, from North Somerset Council, said they will have a meeting with the Lions to discuss how to move forward.

He told the BBC: "It's been important to Westonians and I am a Westonian.

"But we are talking about 20,000 plants being planted every year and maintained.

"We are in a place now where we just don't have that money to spend. It's difficult to think of a way forward."

A council spokesperson added: "North Somerset Council was not given notice that work was planned, and, as landowner, we did not give our permission for work to be undertaken.

"We appreciate the hard work of the Lions volunteers over many years and look forward to finding an acceptable solution."