Hanging baskets to return to Rotherham lamp posts after council approves new agreement
Rotherham Council has approved a new agreement allowing parish and town councils to install hanging baskets on council-owned lamp posts following mandatory safety inspections.
The move comes after several parish councils said this year’s displays had been delayed by the introduction of structural testing for lighting columns.
The memorandum of understanding will allow hanging baskets and other attachments to be fixed to street lighting columns once they have passed independent structural tests.
Earlier this summer, Aston-cum-Aughton Parish Council said the authority had informed it that columns supporting anything other than standard street lights would need to be tested following lighting column failures elsewhere in the country.
Bramley and Dalton parish councils also raised concerns about the timing of the new requirement, saying they had already set budgets and commissioned contractors before being told the inspections would be needed. Both said they had raised concerns with the council over communication and consultation.
Dalton Parish Council has relocated this year’s flowers to planters at Dalton Parish Hall and Sunnyside Community Centre after deciding not to install hanging baskets this summer.
In approving the agreement, council officers said the alternative would have been to refuse attachments to street lighting columns altogether, but concluded this would not be “working collaboratively with Parish and Town Councils”.
The council has also agreed to contribute towards the cost of the structural testing, with hanging baskets able to be installed once lamp posts have been confirmed safe.