Castle Park benches to remain (From Gazette)

Castle Park benches to remain

1:38pm Friday 7th September 2012 in News

COMMON sense has prevalied in Colchester and park benches under trees will remain.
 

Concerns had been raised about the future of the popular Castle Park benches by a member of the Friends of Castle Park.
 

Other councils, such as one in Crawley, have been ridiculed after health and safety officials told the council to remove benches under trees amid safety concerns.
 

The matter was raised in Parliament and Commons leader Andrew Lansley urged councils to use common sense - and Colchester Council agreed.
 

A spokesman said: “We have no intention of removing benches that are located under trees.
 

“One of the many attributes of trees is their shade provision and therefore sitting in the shade of a tree is a popular activity that we would not want to remove.
 

“Our trees are inspected regularly on a risk basis and therefore the location and use of the area around each tree is considered as part of that assessment.
 

“We are confident that our application of health and safety regulations is both evidence-based and proportionate.”