Cancelled Poole Santa parade 'will go ahead'

The parade has been a popular event in Poole for the past 40 years

A Santa parade that was cancelled over crowd fears has been reinstated.

The event in Poole has been staged for the past 40 years and attracts up to 10,000 people.

The Dolphin Shopping Centre, which had previously run the event, halted it due to safety concerns.

Borough of Poole council, together with local businesses and organisations, has now organised a parade and free "festive fun" event on 7 December at Poole Quay.

'Pretty amazing'

As with previous parades, the council said Father Christmas would arrive by boat to the quay.

The authority said its Christmas on the Quay event would also include carols and a flotilla of lights.

More than 2,400 people signed petitions to reinstate the event.

Petition organiser Ryan Stiggants, who described its cancellation as "an outrage", said: "It's pretty amazing how the council managed to pull this together in such a short period of time, and listened to the people of Poole."