A businessman has stumped up £9,000 to save a Scout parade for St George’s Day, after it came under threat over ‘health and safety’.
Children have come together in Romford to celebrate the patron saint of the Scouts – and England – for decades, and residents were outraged when the event was nearly cancelled this year.
Havering Council said it faced a bill of £9,000 for ‘traffic management’, because the Metropolitan Police would not be supporting it with road closures this year.
The Daily Mail’s columnist Richard Littlejohn shone a light on the spat this week, and a fundraising page was set up to foot the bill.
Now, Dean Floyd, the chief executive of Chigwell Construction, has donated the full £9,000.
The father of four said: ‘Last year the council was going to cancel Christmas festivities, and we supported there. We always help where we can to make sure the children have a good time.
‘When I think of everything that’s getting cancelled, it’s disgusting. I was a Cub growing up.
‘This parade has been going for decades, but if it didn’t happen this year, it never would have happened again.
Children have marched to celebrate the patron saint of the Scouts movement – and England – for decades
‘I can’t believe that between the council and the mayor of London, we couldn’t get that money together.
‘We’re talking about kids. There won’t be any trouble, not like the big marches in central London.’
Mr Floyd’s donation means the parade, which involves a march through Collier Row in Romford, followed by a Church service, will be able to go ahead.
However, local councillors and MPs have said it is ‘outrageous’ that it should fall to Mr Floyd to fund the event, which has reportedly been going since 1954.
Andrew Rosindell, the Reform MP for Romford, said: ‘People are already feeling that our identity as an Essex market town is being diminished.
‘The parade is a magnificent display of pride – a big Christian service for the Scouts and part of our heritage – we don’t want to lose that.
‘The council suggested a traffic management team should be hired. We could surely have had volunteers doing this – responsible adults with high-vis jackets.
‘This is a 15 to 20-minute parade through a small town centre. The children aren’t marching through massive roads with lorries everywhere.’
He added: ‘It’s outrageous that we pay huge sums of money for the police and get so little back.
‘Being a London borough and under the Met, resources are always taken away from us. It’s Sir Sadiq Khan who is to blame.
‘Our police are constantly sent into central London for Palestine protests, pride marches, anti-capitalist marches and big state occasions. But when we need them, they tell us they can’t do it.
Mr Rosindell’s comments come as a mass demonstration is due to take place in the capital tomorrow.
The Home Secretary agreed to ban a march by the Iran-linked Al Quds group, but a ‘static protest’ will still take place, and could attract more than 12,000 people.
At least a thousand officers from the Met and forces around the country are being drafted in to patrol the crowds.
Having held talks yesterday, Havering Council, the Met and the Scouts issued a joint statement, saying that ‘updated plans mean there are no expensive costs required for outside organisations to manage the event’.
Conservative councillor Michael White, who was also once a Scout, said he was pleased the parade would be going ahead.
‘It’s great watching the Scouts march past, it brings us a huge sense of pride,’ he said.
‘In the outer London boroughs we are very patriotic. We celebrate St George’s Day just as we would Remembrance Day, for example.
‘Half of me thinks Sadiq Khan doesn’t understand what goes on in the outer circle. But Dean and his company stepped up to the mark.’
A spokesman for the Met said ‘responsibilities such as road closures sit with event organisers and local authorities’, and that the force had not previously provided traffic support at the Scouts parade.
Acting Chief Inspector Charlie Routley, who leads neighbourhood policing in Havering, said: ‘As we have done for many years, our officers will be attending to protect the local community.’