Alan Titchmarsh appeared on Friday’s BBC Breakfast as he called for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to be compensated for losses during the A3/M25 roadworks.
The charity claimed it has lost £6m as a result of the roadworks with 350,000 fewer people visiting RHS Garden Wisley than expected annually. Alan, 75, who has called for government intervention and is vice president of the Royal Horticultural Society, said the losses were “catastrophic”.
Appearing on Friday’s Breakfast, Alan said of the roadworks: “Enormously damaging, the thing about us as a nation, we are world leaders in terms of horticulture, conservation, future proofing the planet in terms of our knowledge and expertise. Wisley, the RHS site here, is at the epicentre of that. Research carries on here to make sure we know where we’re going in terms of climate.”
He added: “We need the research here, we need apprenticeships, we need all kinds of things to make sure we retain our horticulture expertises and for that to be sort of pushed to one side at the behest of obviously important traffic management.
Alan Titchmarsh appeared on Friday’s BBC Breakfast (Image: BBC)
We all want to travel safely, we all want to travel effectively, but we can’t just shunt aside our horticulture heritage in the interest of, you know, getting from A to B quicker. Both are vitally important.”
Alan continued during his interview: “I think successive governments have proved that really they talk a lot about climate change, global warming and the environment. But when push comes to shove and a place that does an awful lot of research, that sort of thing, is sidelined… the proof is in the pudding of how much you support it.”
He added: “To lose £6m and the time things are sorted in 2026, that’s going to be closer to £11m. It’s catastrophic for this country, not just the RHS and Wisley.”
Alan appeared on Friday’s BBC Breakfast (Image: BBC)
Host, Rachel Burden, then suggested that many businesses will be impacted by the roadwords and it would be impractical for the government to compensate for everyone financially who has lost out.
This prompted Alan to respond: “But the RHS should be a special case, this is a charity, this isn’t a business! This is our charity, our country is at the forefront of research, horticulture, environmental care. We shouldn’t have to choose between one or the other!”
Breakfast continues on weekdays at 6am on One and iPlayer.