Carnival organiser hits out at road closure red tape, Teesdale Mercury

THE policies of local authorities have been criticised by carnival organisers who have recently announced the end of a popular Teesdale event.

As previously reported, the organisers of Middleton-in-Teesdale carnival say this year’s event will be the last.

Members of the carnival committee said they took the decision because of a lack of help from members of the community.

And now the committee’s treasurer, Alan Thompson, has hit out at Durham County Council and Durham Police.

Durham County Council’s Safety Advisory Group is responsible 

for carrying out road closures for events.

Contractors are sometimes brought into handle traffic management and Mr Thompson said event organisers are often left to foot the bill.

Mr Thompson added: “The problem we are having with Durham County Council is that police are no longer involved in road closures, so the council has to go out to private firms.

“The annoying thing is that the police come to Middleton-in-Teesdale to monitor the event anyway, yet they can’t enforce the road closures.”

Similar concerns were recently expressed by Richmond councillors, who claimed North Yorkshire County Council could damage local events by charging high fees.

Sgt Chris Knox, of Barnard Castle Police, said about ten officers would be needed to close the road in Middleton.

He said: “We attend Middleton’s carnival in small numbers, about two , and we are there to deal with any issues that might arise.

“At Barnard Castle Meet, for example, we have a large amount of officers on duty, but if they were dealing with road closures, they would not be able to police any crime or disorder issues.”

Sgt Knox explained that traffic management companies are fully trained to lawfully carry out any necessary road closures. 

“Regulations have changed,” he added. “Although we would love to carry out the closures, we can’t anymore.”

Joanne Waller, the council’s head of environment health and consumer protection, said the authority’s safety advisory group ensured the public is not put at risk.

She said: “As joint partners in these groups, the council, the police and the fire and rescue service, have to agree that an event meets all the required standards to ensure the risk of any health and safety incident is kept to a minimum.

“Protecting public safety can be a complex task and sometimes even small events can have a significant impact on serious issues like road safety.

“For this reason it is important that we take time to properly consider and deal with any requests for support in organising events.

“While we appreciate some people may find it frustrating to have to go through what may at first seem like a lengthy process, I would like to reassure them that we make every effort to deal with requests in a timely and efficient way.”