Cancelled poppy display to return after agreement

A remembrance group that cancelled plans to put poppies on lampposts due to tighter council safety guidance has said the display will now go ahead.

For the past three years Hoyland Remembrance and Parade Group has hung 350 wooden poppies in the town centre, each bearing the name of a soldier commemorated on the town's war memorial.

The display was cancelled by the group after safety guidance from Barnsley Council - introduced over unlicensed flag flying - meant it would be "impractical" to install the poppies.

However, the poppies will return after the council agreed to review the safety of putting up the tributes on each lamppost on a case by case basis.

Group organiser Liam Hill said members were "relieved and happy" that conversations with the council had been successful.

"They were amicable with us and vice versa with them, we never blamed them for what happened," he said.

"It was the advice that they had put together which put the wheels in motion, but if they can amend that guidance then we can carry on."

He said the display would continue to be a way to "care and appreciate" people from Hoyland who had died in military service.

Council leader Sir Steve Houghton said: "We value the dedication of groups that honour our fallen heroes, and we have always fully supported respectful poppy displays on street lights.

"We said from the beginning that we were committed to working with community groups to ensure such tributes can be delivered safely and appropriately, and I'm pleased to say we now have found a way forward that we hope will now see the display go ahead."

He said council staff would work with the volunteers to "find safe locations to install poppies".

"This will include lampposts, and where appropriate, some posts with road signs as long as the safe and legal use of these posts is preserved," he added.

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