Croydon Council will not replace plants removed from the borough's parks until the hosepipe ban is lifted.

The council was criticised after parks staff were seen removing shrubbery close to the entrance of South Norwood Lake and Grounds.

The old plants were meant to be replaced with new shrubbery, but the decision to plant them was delayed following the introduction of water restrictions.

Sara Bashford, cabinet member for Customer Services, Culture and Sport, said: "We are intending to lead by example while water restrictions are in place.

"We will do our best to keep all of our parks and planting beds healthy, but if supplies do run low we will only prioritise areas like bowling greens and cricket squares where it would cost us a lot of money to reinstate them if they were allowed to dry out.

"We had the foresight some years ago to install a large rainwater tank at our plant nursery.

"This will hopefully give us sufficient reserve supplies to cover many of the dry summer months."