A donkey gets sidelined because of health & safety
For ten years, Hampshire village has allowed a donkey to lead the Easter festival. The parade goes through Hamble close to Southampton. This year Eastleigh Borough Council was told they could not allow the donkey to be a part of the parade. Police stated it would be an issue of traffic management, road safety, signage, risk assessment, and insurance issues. The Parochial Church Council stated they would cancel the entire procession due to all of the reasons the procession was being targeted. In actuality it was not just the donkey that the police had issues with. It was the entire parade from Saint Andrew’s and the fact that they would need a few streets to be closed for the religious Palm Sunday.
The fact is that last year traffic was held up for less than an hour while the procession went from its starting point to the finish. In previous years the children have really enjoyed the festival parade, but now the council cancelled it. They also stated they regret cancelling it because of the health and safety concerns. The procession has not had any health and safety breaches in ten years even with the donkey. They always hire a donkey with an experienced handler to ensure there are no safety and health issues. Traffic would have been delayed for a short time, but it seems a bit on the wrong side to say the festival parade could not occur for a small disruption.
