Lancashire County Council bashed over bunting ban

A ban on bunting being strung across roads during a festival has been branded "health and safety gone mad".

Lancashire County Council (LCC) told Lytham Club Day organisers they could not use bunting in certain places for safety reasons.

The policy has apparently been in place for 40 years, but never enforced.

A post on the event's Facebook page, entitled "Bunting Balderdash!", bemoaned the risk of the "iconic" sight of bunting being absent this year.

Lytham is preparing to celebrate its 125th year and club day organiser Cath Powell said the bunting had always been a traditional feature.

'Give us proof'

She said she could not understand why the ruling had suddenly come into force and described it as "health and safety gone mad".

"Give us the proof," she said.

"If it was a major health and safety factor and it was pulling lampposts down and a kid could get killed under a lamppost because bunting has pulled it down, of course we wouldn't put it up."

The council will not allow bunting to be strung across roads and between concrete posts but it might be allowed between trees and steel posts.

Keith Iddon, the councillor responsible for transport and highways at LCC, said it had always been a policy, but it was rare for anyone to actually ask permission to put up bunting.

He told BBC Radio Lancashire: "If it falls down, it wraps around a cyclist, it pulls a cyclist under a car, you'd be the first one on the phone to say to me 'what are you doing councillor, allowing this?'"

Mr Iddon said he had not even realised the policy existed until the issue was raised.