Twelve fig trees that cost the taxpayer £32,500-a-year in rental fees will be uprooted in September.
What will replace the trees is yet to be decided, but one MP involved in the negotiations suggested that it is likely to be… you heard it here first, folks… more trees, perhaps even fig trees again.
The only difference is that this time, they will be bought outright rather than rented.
Last week, Speaker Bercow said he was "horrified" to hear of the cost of Portcullis House greenery.
In a parliamentary answer last week, John Thurso revealed that there are 145 trees on the Commons part of the parliamentary estate.
The Lib Dem member of the House of Commons Commission told Labour MP Thomas Docherty: "All the trees on the Commons part of the parliamentary estate are owned by the House, with the exception of the tree at 1 Canon Row (shared ownership with the Department of Health) and the 12 fig trees in Portcullis House, which are leased under contract from Plant Care."
The rolling contract is up for annual renewal in September.
Comments
Robert Kaye / February 28 2012 2:56pm
"It is not clear what will happen to the rented tree on Canon Row…"
The tree on Canon Row isn't rented. It's jointly owned with the Department of Health. It will probably become a Foundation Tree.