BUNTING DEEMED A DANGER

The decision was condemned yesterday as “health and safety gone mad”. Jane Harding, 42, organiser of today’s carnival in Ferndown, Dorset, said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous.

“The bunting is lightweight plastic. It doesn’t sag or get heavier when it gets wet and it’s designed to be strung up like this. If the lampposts can’t take the weight it makes you wonder whether they should be up at all.”

Rod Maidstone, lighting engineer at Dorset County Council, said: “Internal corrosion, which cannot be seen, may have weakened the column and the additional load could lead to it collapsing.”

A council spokesman added: “The bunting could sag and become entangled in passing buses or lorries.”