A HAMPSHIRE nursery has been taken to the High Court in a test case that could prune millions of pounds from Britain's nursery industry.

The Environment Agency is concerned that Hillier Nurseries, at Ampfield, near Romsey, does not recycle its pots and trays after its plants are sold.

The argument comes down to whether pots are merely packaging or whether they are an essential part of growing plants at nurseries.

The nursery did not have to pay a £2,000 fine when it was taken to New Forest Magistrates' Court in June for breaching the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997.

Stipendiary magistrate Gareth Cowling decided the pots were essential for the growth of the plants and found Hillier Nurser-ies not guilty.

But the EA has appealed to the High Court and a one-day hearing took place this month.

Stephen Hockman QC for the Environment Agency told the court: "The consumer goes to the nursery to buy a plant, it is in a pot. The consumer views the pot as a means of keeping the plant and soil together as a unit. Once at home, the consumer puts the plant into the ground. The pot will be discarded. From the consumer's point of view, the pot is packaging."

He argued that the plants could be grown in the ground without pots, but it would be impossible to sell plants without them because they were a means of facilitating handling and transportation of plants by the consumer - in other words, packaging.

Counsel for Hillier Nurseries Andrew Spink said: "Common sense and experience would suggest that the opposite is true.

"It is by no means clear that non-native plants could be grown in the ground in this country, or that any plant could be grown as well in the ground as it can in the different series of containers used for nursery cultivation."

The High Court deemed the question so complex that it reserved its decision and is not expected to deliver one for up to a fortnight.

At stake is much more than a fine for one nursery. If the pots are considered packaging then every nursery in the country would have to pay for their disposal. The law in the case has its roots in an EU directive that requires certain classes of producer, including nurseries, to take reasonable steps to recover and recycle waste packaging.