GARDENERS and council staff are celebrating success in the North-East's floral awards for the sixth consecutive year.

Yesterday, the winner of the Northumbria In Bloom Best City title was again announced as Darlington, sparking double celebrations in the borough.

One of Darlington Borough Council's gardeners, Trevor Cooper, who has recently retired, was honoured with the award for best service by a local individual.

Mr Cooper was Darlington Borough Council's horticultural manager and was involved in all six of the town's victories in the competition.

Darlington Mayor Councillor Dorothy Long said: "To win once is good. To maintain that level of excellence for six years is a remarkable achievement.

"All credit must go to the horticultural team for their hard work, and to the business community whose continued support has been so important to the town's success."

Darlington's horticultural efforts is considerably helped by the council's Woodburn Nursery, off Salutation Road, which grows 2m plants for use in parks and gardens around Darlington, and for sale to 15 other local authorities.

Darlington also won silver medals at the last two Chelsea Flower Shows.

The Percy Boydell Trophy for best overall entry was won by Sunderland, while other awards went to Durham (the best large town) and Newcastle city centre (best inner city or urban redevelopment).

Kenneth Clarke, chairman of Northumbria In Bloom, which is sponsored by Newcastle Building Society, said: "Our job gets harder every year as the standard of entries keeps on getting better.

"We were delighted to see the attention to detail and effort that all the entries have made."

See tomorrow's edition of The Northern Echo for the full list of results.