THREE hundred hanging baskets are due to put in place around the town centre to brighten it up.

Darlington Borough Council hopes the blooms will drive home its message that the town is open for business.

The streets scene team will be putting them up in the next few weeks and will be working to maintain them through extra watering.

Councillor Heather Scott, council leader, said: “More and more people are coming back to the town centre to shop and do business.

"These wonderful floral displays will create a fantastic splash of colour and give a boost to the warm welcome that already awaits our shoppers.

“We have a strong floral heritage and have won many awards in the past including national recognition at Chelsea and Britain in Bloom.

"Once in place, these flowers will help to remind people of our proud heritage and give the town a brilliant burst of colour.

"Many thanks to our Street Scene teams who have worked hard to make this happen.”

Cllr Alan Marshall, cabinet member for economy and regeneration added: “We are a proud town and in the past few years we have revived our tradition of entering floral competitions. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, Northumbria in Bloom (in which we won Best in Class in the City Centre category last year) has been cancelled.

“However, what hasn’t been cancelled is our immense pride in this town and we wanted to help celebrate this by ensuring the return of the floral displays. We want people to come down and enjoy the flowers and, most of all, enjoy Darlington.”