YORK’S floral displays may be at their best at the moment, but tourism bosses have expressed their disappointment at City of York Council’s decision not to enter this year’s Britain In Bloom.

The city was selected earlier this year from more than 1,000 entrants to take part in this year’s finals, and was expected to represent Yorkshire in the national competition, after winning Gold in Yorkshire In Bloom last year.

In 2011, York won the Silver Gilt award, when the city entered for the first time in about 15 years, and regional judging for this year’s event saw York selected for “outstanding commitment to environmental responsibility, community participation and gardening achievement”.

However the council’s leisure chief, Coun Sonja Crisp, said the city would be “taking a breather this year”, for budgetary reasons, although she said it was hard to say exactly how much entering the competition would cost the city overall. Coun Crisp said the decision not to enter this year would allow officers to work with communities and save money in the long run.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of Visit York, said winning a Britain In Bloom award would be a great asset in terms of visitor marketing, and it was “disappointing” the city had not been able to enter this year.

Coun Crisp said the authority wanted to “build up the community aspects of parks and open spaces”, and the city could enter in future years. She said the “displays are just as important as ever”, and are currently “looking brilliant”, even if they were not being judged.

A spokesman for the Royal Horticultural Society, which runs Britain In Bloom, said no other entrant had been nominated to replace York as a finalist, but Yorkshire was still very well represented, with Starbeck, Ripon, Hunmanby, and Barwick-in-Elmet, among others, reaching the final round.