With the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee just around the corner the HSE has published advice which, it says, should help address any unnecessary restrictions that those hoping to organise community events encounter.
It says that its Myth Busters Challenge Panel will be on hand to help community volunteers who may have been hampered by those in authority using health and safety as an excuse to put barriers in the way of people holding street parties and other events to honour the Queen’s 60 years on the throne. The HSE chair, Judith Hackitt, says that health and safety laws don’t apply to local events and so sensible precautions are all that are really required.
The government, through the Department for Communities and Local Government, says it has cut regulations on street parties and it now calls on councils to follow suit and make it easier for people to celebrate the Jubilee as a community. Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, said: “The only red tape on sight should be the Jubilee bunting hanging in the streets”.