SAFETY concerns about overcrowding have been blamed for a Christmas lantern parade in Oxford being cancelled this year.

City council leader Bob Price said the event, which sees hundreds of schoolchildren carry hand-made lights through the city centre, to mark the start of the festive season, was a “victim of its own success”.

Oxford Mail:

City council leader Bob Price

Last month the city council said it would not hold the lantern procession this year and will instead organise a series of events centred around Gloucester Green.

Mr Price said: “The issue which the police raised is general safety in the city centre.

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“The parade has been a victim of its own success and there were worries that the number of people was unsafe.

“You could devise a route for the parade but it always involved narrow or confined spaces in which the numbers issue became a problem. When we look at it next year we need to look at what might be a safe route and allow it to take place.”

Last year’s Christmas lantern parade in November – which was not policed – left Town Hall via Blue Boar Street and then travelled to Radcliffe Square via King Edward Street before making its way to St Giles via Brasenose Lane and Cornmarket Street.

The city council has been criticised for scrapping some elements of Oxford’s Christmas celebrations.

Craig Simmons, deputy leader of the Green group on the council, said: “The council is ripping the very heart out of the lights festival by dropping the free, public, outdoor elements so loved by children and adults alike.

“Like the Grinch, the council is taking the fun out of Christmas.”

Earlier this year it emerged that Oxford college staff said the three-day Christmas event in St Giles – which attracted 100,000 people – was “naff and tawdry”.

Supt Christian Bunt, the LPA commander for Oxford, said the police has no power of veto over whether the event can be held or not and simply gives advice – which was not to scrap the event.

He said: “All we did is provide advice and as part of the debrief from last year we raised some concerns about crowd density and crowd safety.

“There were very large numbers of people in the city centre.

“It is our duty and responsibility to inform the organisers that there are those concerns.

“We would absolutely be happy to work with the city council if they needed advice from us.”


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