Alternative parade route "reduced cost"

Wednesday 19 September 2018

This year's Battle of Britain memorial parade followed a different route to normal, and apparently saved the organisers some money in doing so.

It usually follows a route down to the town sea front, before the parade is inspected along the Town Quay.

However, on Sunday, the parade marched through the High Street to Church Square, with the Town Quay remaining open to traffic. 

One man who had some involvement in the parade said he was aware the organising committee had said that they were to be charged £700 by the States if they had gone ahead with plans to close the town sea front rather than use the High Street this year.

He said he believed this was due to the positioning of anti terrorism barriers which are a common sight during public events nowadays. He said it was unfair the organisers had to pay for this when they haven't had to in the past, and when it was effectively a memorial event to lost servicemen and women.

In a statement, Traffic and Highway Services confirmed to Express that changes had been made to the organisation of the event this year, with a charge for, among other things, "security measures." They insisted there is no charge payable to the States for the closure of any roads for public events to take place but staff need to be paid to put signs and other items out.

"Traffic and Highway Services, liaising with Guernsey Police as appropriate, works with any charity or organiser wishing to close a road for their event.  There are no charges applied by either Traffic and Highway Services of the Police in relation to events," a spokesman said.

"However, the cost of placing out any signage and/or security measures are met by all event organisers.  This service is normally provided by States Works.

"We work with organisers for hundreds of events each year and the charging policy is consistent for all to ensure fairness."

On this occasion, it's said that the parade organisers agreed with recommended changes which kept their costs down while the event remained safe for all to attend.

"With regards the Battle of Britain parade, we worked closely with RAFA and Guernsey Police to find an alternative route that resulted in less signage and security arrangements and thus reduced the cost to the event organiser.   Our understanding is that RAFA were content with the arrangements and will repeat them in future years."

Pictured: Cadets in a previous Battle of Britain parade. Image from aircadets.gg