Oakham to keep twinning link with German town

The twinning arrangement started in 1987

Oakham's 37-year twinning relationship with the German town of Barmstedt is to continue, a council has voted.

Councillors in the Rutland town said while pairing UK towns to continental counterparts had dwindled, Barmstedt residents were keen to maintain the arrangement.

The two locations have been paired since 1987 but an external co-ordinator is stepping down.

Now Oakham Town Council says it will "carry the flag" at no extra cost.

In recent years, twinning arrangements between British town and foreign locations have been in decline.

The town council explained that it wanted to ensure its relationship was retained, with "the only real commitment" being to assign a point of contact and keeping up correspondence.

Oakham is popular for its historic buildings

At a full council meeting the authority voted unanimously that councillors Adam Lowe and Paul Ainsley would become twinning representatives, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Lowe said it would be "a shame" to discontinue Oakham's link to Barmstedt, which is located in the norther German district of Pinneberg and has a walkway named Oakham Promenade at one of its parks.

The council said it also had heard from its residents who were "very keen that Oakham stay in touch".

Mr Lowe explained: "I have looked into this matter to see what the cost implications are, and the simple answer is that there aren't any, because in the original documents when they formed the twinning relationship it was written that Oakham Town Council would not be expected to put money into it."

Mr Ainsley added: "I would also like to throw my hat into the ring - I think it would be slightly more robust if we had a couple of people representing the council in twinning matters."