One of the volunteers who make up Wisbech in Bloom says they are being forced to look for ‘wee resistant’ flowers to keep the gardens of St Peter’s Church in peak condition.

His appeal follows the discovery that some of the flowers planted in the gardens have withered because of the numbers of people urinating in the bushes.

"I planted some echium at the back of the garden in St Peter's and I couldn't understand why they weren't growing," he said.

"They should have reached 10 feet tall by now but they started to go yellow. Then I realised that they were being poisoned by ammonia from the decomposing wee"

He added: "I have had to dig them out and pot them up to try to save them. We are now researching 'wee resistant' flowers that we can plant in their place.

"What a crazy state of affairs."

Peter Freeman, a former special constable who recently stood unsuccessfully to become a local councillor, was shocked but not surprised.

He said" I thought I had heard everything, but when I hear that our In Bloom volunteers have to find pee resistant plants for our town centre gardens I realise there is still more to come and though shocked, not surprised."

In his election address he wrote: "Over the last few years I have become very saddened to see the decline of our town centre and the prevalence of street drinking and illegal parking."

On social media there continues to be growing concern over the numbers drinking in the open outside the parish church.

One resident wrote: "Yes, we have CCTV but there is no will to enforce any laws or regulations. That is why this town is being slowly trashed."

Last month one woman posted that "I have just been into town and counted 12 people drinking in St Peter's gardens, 10 were in the blind garden and four were arguing near pond, the doorway to St Peter's church hall which was being washed and bleached.

"Welcome to Wisbech and what happened to the no drinking ban?"

In the same discussion local councillor Steve Tierney wrote: "What happened to 'no drinking' is that the police don't want to enforce it, which I did say was likely back when the debate was being had."

He said Fenland Council and their enforcement agents Kingdom were supposed to have enforced it too "but that's been sporadic. I'd like to think FDC could encourage Kingdom and the police to do more."

Last year Wisbech in Bloom received the freedom of the town in recognition of their efforts over many years.

Wisbech also swept the board at the Anglia in Bloom awards - with the ultimate accolade of 'Best Anglia in Bloom Overall Entry"