IT has emerged this week that there are genuine fears for the future of Edwardian Evening and many other of Okehampton?s events that require road closures. Currently, the Okehampton and District Chamber of Trade work with West Devon Borough Council to oversee the road closures during Edwardian Evening. The current road closure notice fee is £65. However, new legislation from central government now requires all road closures to be dealt with by Devon County Council. This will make the process of closing roads for important town events more complex and will also have important financial implications. Chairman for the chamber, Ian Bailey, said: ?The county council will now be dealing with road closures. This will mean a massive rise in the fee to close a road plus an extra layer of legislation and licences to deal with. ?Firstly, the road closure notice fee will rise from the present rate of £65, for the three hour closure, to £125. To add to the burden, the chamber will not be able to manage the road closure themselves.? At present, the chamber employs Dartmoor Rescue Group to oversee and manage the road closure. DRG have radio control communication from one end of Fore Street to East Street and if an emergency vehicle was needed to access Fore Street, it could be done with relative ease. But under the new legislation the chamber will now have to employ a person who is licensed to manage road closures. This will incur an extra fee of around £250 to go on top of the initial £125. From a fee of £65, the potential new total could be as much as £400 and this amount would have to be paid whenever a road needed to be closed. Mr Bailey said: ?I feel this is just another disregard for rural and small town life that will have the result of putting a stop to many rural events such as Edwardian Evening and small carnivals that require road closures. ?We have been in touch with Devon County Council who have been very helpful in their response and, in turn are trying to get central government to change their minds on these new charges. ?Until such a time we must assume we will have to find this extra money from somewhere.? Town councillor Kay Bickley added: ?This is not the county council?s fault, the blame lies with central government. The government said they would be reducing bureaucracy, not increasing it. This legislation is, inevitably, going to disadvantage small towns and the events that serve to bind and empower small communities will suffer. This new legislation also goes against the Government?s policy of trying to localise power.? Cllr Bickley suggested that one possible solution could be to look into training someone locally to oversee all the road closures. The chamber is hoping to have a meeting with Devon County Council in spring 2008 to try and resolve the situation.
