Buckingham Town Council confirms Christmas parade cancellation and plans to allocate funds to alternate activities

A meeting last week between the town council and parade committee members did not resolve the issues which have led to the cancellation.

Following the meeting a spokesperson for the town council confirmed it is looking to use the money typically allocated for the parade to fund “Christmas activities”.

At this stage more work has to be done before final decisions are made on a new Christmas programme in the town, The Herald was told.

The parade committee’s decision to stop overseeing the event was confirmed on social media. A committee member listed a number of issues which have made delivering the parade increasingly difficult.

They said: “The town council has had to increase the workload and complexity of the event, due mainly by changes to health and safety and other laws as well as greater insurance demands”

In the last week further details have emerged regarding the specific demands that were reportedly put on committee members who arranged the event on a voluntary basis.

One said on social media: “For this year’s parade, the town council’s insurance company said that we had to physically check the floats before the parade commenced.

“The checks were for ‘stability, road worthiness, safety of occupants and that of electrical equipment should be sufficiently earthed, generators and amplifiers to be anchored to the floor and securely fixed’. We understand that if checks weren’t made or not done thoroughly enough, we (the parade committee) may be culpable for the resulting incident.

"Our pleas to the council that this was impossible and unfair were ignored and so we had no option but to withdraw from organising this year's parade.”

Another source said that there were concerns about the number of processes the committee would have to follow to adhere with Martyn’s Law. New protocols the Government is introducing in response to the Manchester Arena bombing to make events more well-protected from potential terrorism attacks.

Buckingham Town Council said last month, after news of the committee’s withdrawal spread through social media, that in previous years it has supported the event via funding and “significant practical support”, both on the lead up to the event and the day itself.

The town council has also publicly paid tribute to the committee’s role in delivering the event noting that it has existed for 40 years. “The parade, founded by Rosemary and Steve Heywood, is one of the town's best-loved traditions, sustained across four decades by residents giving their time freely,” the council said.

It also noted that the pressures around delivering compliant and safe events are not unique to Buckingham. "Buckingham is not alone in facing these pressures, and neither the town council nor the parade committee created the current environment,” the town council added. “Both, however, must operate within it, and the council must do so to the standards expected of a public body.”

However, committee members have questioned why other prominent town centre events, such as Bandjam, have been able to go ahead without seemingly facing so many insurance issues