Connah’s Quay: Councillors slam ‘joke’ charges for local event road closure

New road closure charges in Flintshire have been branded a joke after Connah’s Quay Town Council was forced to change its traditional festival parade route.

At a meeting this week Cllr David Richardson, chair of the council’s regeneration committee, revealed that plans to close Wepre Drive for a short period to complete the traditional opening parade from the Civic Hall to Wepre Park would have to be changed after Flintshire County Council quoted a cost of £1,220 to close the half-mile stretch of road.

The parade, which will this year take place on Saturday, June 28, typically lasts 30 minutes.

It is one of the first times the impact of Flintshire’s new policy of charging a fee for road closures has been felt.

“We have traditionally had a parade from the civic hall to Wepre Park,” saic Cllr Richardson.

“But things have changed. Road closures are now chargeable directly to the council.

“We are looking at £1,220 to close the road. I don’t think that’s value for money so what do we do. Rather than break the tradition and not have a parade we can run our parade from the visitors centre.”

Town councillors expressed their frustration at the charge.

“The charge is a joke,” said Cllr Anthony Wren. “I’m in complete agreement that we still do a parade but run it inside Wepre Park.

Previously Flintshire County Council would cover the cost of road closures for civic events as a gift to town councils – but that budget was removed in April 2023.

The annual cost of road closures for events for the county council was £22,000 last year.

“We can’t sustain providing that free of charge so we would be looking for a contribution from the town or community council to recover the costs,” said Flintshire’s Chief Officer for Streetscene and Transportation Katie Wilby when the change was debated at Flintshire County Council back in December.

“We recognise that having a well-managed, safe event can bring a lot of benefit to the local communities. Our involvement comes in many forms, from road closures and setting out traffic management to hosting events on car parks.

“We can’t sustain that level of cost.”

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter