The Royal Horticultural Society has received £2.3 million after three years of roadworks turned the area outside Wisley into, in Clare Matterson's words, “a traffic jam” outside its main garden. The compensation follows disruption from the upgrade to the A3 and M25, which the RHS says cut visits by 350,000 a year.
Wisley and the £2.3 million
Matterson said, “I think it’s fair to say that we had three years of a traffic jam outside what is our major garden.” She added: “I would have loved more. I would have pushed for more. It is what it is, and on we go. I’m grateful that we got something.”
The charity had put its losses at £13 million. On that basis, the settlement covers only a fraction of what it says the roadworks cost it. The gap is large enough to show why the payment was fought over for so long.
Clare Matterson and Chelsea
Matterson has also argued that Chelsea flower show remains central to the Royal Horticultural Society’s finances, even as the event faced criticism this year over being called “woke” and after losing one of its biggest funders. She said, “Chelsea is our saviour” and added, “People, I guess, complain about anything popular, don’t they”.
Tickets for Chelsea sold out 10 days before the event opened this year. That is the other side of the same story: the RHS is leaning on a show it says is its biggest fundraiser while it also tries to recover money lost to the Wisley disruption.
Suffolk community gardening
Matterson said she is personally involved in a community garden near her home in Suffolk and described it this way: “What I love about that is that not everybody that comes loves the physical act of gardening” and “Some like making things, and so they’ll be making bird boxes. Some people just want to come and chat.”
The RHS plans a major push towards community gardening in the coming year, backed by a survey showing about two and a half million people already engaged and about 13 million who would like to be. Matterson said, “Community gardening must be a big thing for this country”, a line that points to where the charity wants to send its energy after the Wisley payment.
