OXFORDSHIRE is to lose its annual flower show, with organisers told that the event was not sufficiently aimed at disadvantaged groups to merit a city council grant this year.

The Royal Oxfordshire Horticultural Society has been putting on a flower show and charity day for 25 years in Florence Park, Oxford.

But the society this week announced that it had been forced to cancel the event in early September after the city council turned down its bid for a £2,000 grant.

A letter from the city council said the society’s application had been rejected because “it was difficult to establish a need and there is no targetting with disadvantaged communities or groups”.

Society chairman Freddie Drinkwater said: “We have organised the event with the financial support of the city council. In doing so we have tried to maintain the ethos of a traditional flower show. It is really ‘a village fete in suburbia’, with free admission to everyone.

“The planning for this year’s event was well under way when we learned we would not receive financial support from the council.

“We are a society manned by volunteers with a limited budget and unable to support the event on our own. The decision to cancel early in the year is to allow the entertainers and numerous charities to find alternative venues.”

He said the society had been taken aback by the council’s reference to disadvantaged groups because the event involves rehabilitation groups interested in gardening. It also raised money for charities.

The letter to the group was sent by Julia Tomkins, the city’s grants and external funding officer.

Oxford City Council spokesman Fiona Colcutt said: “The Royal Oxfordshire Horticultural Society applied for a grant through the annual open bidding section of the grants programme. We received 50 applications to this round, requesting a total of £285,406. The budget available was £97,064.”

Last week council leaders had to pledge a £40,000 lifeline to ensure the Cowley Road Carnival’s return to the East Oxford road.

Trustees of the annual event feared that the carnival would have to be scaled down after the Arts Council rejected their application for a £50,000 grant.

But Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council pledged the money to ensure the street event is held on the Cowley Road on Sunday, July 4.