The leader of the opposition at Havering Council has hailed the generosity of patriotic locals for helping save their annual St George’s Day parade.
Speaking to GB News, Councillor Michael White celebrated the fundraising efforts of residents who have saved the annual parade, which was threatened with cancellation.
Mr White told host Martin Daubney: “Yesterday the Conservative group on Havering Council launched a JustGiving page to raise the £9,000, and I’m happy to tell you today that we’ve raised over £9,000.
“So the the good news is, the parade is going ahead.”
The parade, run by the Scouts in Romford on the Essex border, was threatened with cancellation due to “challenges meeting safety requirements” and a bill of £9,000 for a “traffic management plan” to manage it.
Havering Council had claimed it would be unable to deal with road closures or road blocking for the festive event alone.
Thanking those who helped raise above the £9,000 required for the parade to go ahead, Mr White said: “I want to say thank you to all those who contributed, and in particular, Chigwell Windows and Doors, who are a local business.
“They have stepped up to the mark and have made a sizeable donation to the JustGiving page.”
Councillor Michael White has hailed locals for helping to save their St George’s Day parade after being threatened with cancellation
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GB NEWS / ROMFORD DISTRICT SCOUTS
Highlighting the importance of St George’s Day celebrations, Martin told the Havering Councillor: “I don’t think councils or the police, these clipboards, these health and safety zealots, understand things like St George’s Day parades.
“They’re priceless, you can’t put a price on them. They bond the community, they bond our tradition, they make us recall our patron saints. You can’t put a price on that.”
Agreeing with Martin, Mr White said that more needs to be done to “protect our heritage” and “value St George’s Day in our communities”.
He told GB News: “This parade has been going on since I think 1954, and we have a tradition in Havering, in Romford and Hornchurch in particular, we’re very strong in relation to St George’s Day and the way we celebrate it. We do it every year.
The Romford St George’s Day parade has been saved thanks to fundraising locals
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ROMFORD DISTRICT SCOUTS“It’s a special place, Havering and Romford, and we need to absolutely ensure that we protect our heritage and things like St George’s Day.
Mr White also revealed that he has been “talking to the chief executive and the police” to “ensure that this parade goes ahead”.
Expressing his joy at the work of locals in helping to save the parade, Martin declared: “I say hats off, and a drink should be raised towards everybody who’s donated every single penny to make this happen.
“Just goes to show you sometimes the great British public, when they’re handed lemons, they make lemonade. They make sweet things out of a sour situation.”
Taking aim at London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, Mr White suggested that he is “misunderstood” with what is happening on the “outer rings” of the capital.
Mr White told GB News that it is partly down to Sir Sadiq Khan’s ‘misunderstanding’ of the outer London ring
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GB NEWS
The Councillor concluded: “I think with the Metropolitan Police, what I understand it was about resource, but I think it’s a little bit more than that. It’s about Mayor Khan, isn’t it?
“It’s about his understanding of zone one and not really understanding what’s going on in the outer London ring. And for us, these kind of parades, this celebration of Havering is really important, and I just don’t think he gets it.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Havering Council told GB News: “We want local events to take place safely, and we work closely with organisers to help them meet the legal requirements that apply to all processions using the public highway.”
Acting Chief Inspector, Charlie Routley told GB News: “We fully support the Scouts St George’s Day parade in Havering and understand how important it is to the local community. We are continuing to work closely with local partners in the hope that the event can take place.
“In line with national policing guidance, responsibilities such as road closures sit with the event organisers and local authorities, allowing our officers to focus on wider safety issues, risks and responding to ambulances.”
