Greenhouses which have helped produce hundreds of thousands of plants for Dorchester’s Borough Gardens and the town could be shared more with community groups.

The idea has been suggested as an alternative to demolition and the town council buying in plug plants each year.

Between them the structures produce almost 25,000 bedding plants each year as well as being used to over-winter delicate plants – at an estimated cost of almost £12,000 a year, including materials and labour. A report to town councillors on Tuesday suggests that the same, or similar plants, could be bought in for around £8,500 – although some species are not commercially available.

The town’s policy committee heard that for many people the savings were not the issue and that the greenhouses brought other benefits for the town, the garden staff, and residents.

Limited use is already made of the greenhouses, mainly by disability groups, and the committee heard that more shared use should be encouraged.

Lorna Lowe, from the Friends of the Borough Gardens group, told the committee that the greenhouses were an integral part of the gardens, enjoyed by people who used them or those who drop in to see what was being grown.

She said they also had their use for apprentices employed by the council – training them to raise plants from seed and to care for them at all other stages.

“I realise the cost implications…but there would be deep upset in the town and beyond it if the Borough Gardens greenhouses were given up,” she said.

Resident Linda Poulson said she would like to see more use made of the greenhouses including the ‘gardening by prescription’ scheme.

Another Dorchester resident, Philip Jordan, said that while buying in plants might be cheaper there would be an additional environmental cost: “keeping the greenhouses seems a more sustainable way forward,” he said.

Cllr Alistair Chisholm said the structures were recognised by the Victorian Society as “exemplars of an era,” although only parts remained intact. He said the greenhouses had always been an integral part of the gardens and believed they had helped the council repeatedly win its ‘Green Flag’ award.

“If we lose our Borough Gardens greenhouses we will lose a lot more than the buildings. It will be a loss to the community.”

His stance was agreed by Cllr Gerald Duke who said that with the future development of The Great Field there might be more call for the plants the greenhouses and the council’s outdoor staff produce: “We may need to expand on what we are doing…we certainly don’t want to lose the facility.”

Policy committee chair Cllr Stella Jones called for a further report focusing on extending community use and asked that gardens staff also be consulted for their ideas along with other interested groups – before a possible wider public consultation next year.

The area currently used by the greenhouses was once a commercial nursery bought for the town shortly after the purchase of the Borough Garden site in March 1895. The, then, Dorchester Corporation, paid £1,800 for the nursery land and the adjoining house which is known today as Borough Gardens House.

Most of the original greenhouses were then demolished between 1902 and 1928 to make way for the bowling green, trees and shrubs before later being replaced with mid twentieth century structures. Improvements to improve safety were last reported as being made to the greenhouses during the winter of 2007-08.