IT was planned as a fantastic display of colour, but others call it a “pathetic quagmire.”

The 20,000 crocuses planted by volunteers on Bournemouth’s West Cliff have sown discontent amongst residents.

There is a thin wheel of flowers in the rotary club logo, in the middle a bumpy, muddy patch of ground that is around 50 yards long.

Chris Colledge, chairman of the West Cliff Green Residents Association said: “The display looks pathetic.

“I am absolutely aghast that rotary club volunteers were allowed to go and plant bulbs without any supervision by the council officers.

“We have had to avoid the area since last autumn and it has been something of a quagmire in the wet weather.”

He praised Rotary Club’s donation of bulbs to highlight its campaign to eradicate polio by replicating the purple fingers of people immunised against the disease.

But he said the ground around the plans was now a stony hazard, adding: “Why was such a large area ploughed up in the first place?”

Andy McDonald, parks manager operations, admitted in an email to Mr Colledge that “we do not feel 20,000 bulbs have actually been planted”.

He told the Echo: “The Rotary Club of England kindly donated 20,000 crocus that will provide a fantastic display of different colours for many of our springtimes to come.

“We have rotavated an area in proportion to the number of bulbs that we expected would be planted.

“So as not to damage the emerging bulbs, we will have to wait for an unknown period of time until the flowering bulbs die back.

“Once this has happened we will level the area and apply grass seed returning the area to normal.”

Sue Burnett, the secretary of the Rotary Club of England Westbourne, said no-one would be available to comment on the quality of work.

She said she had not previously heard of any complaints against the area.