Popular Boxing Day hunt meet in Chard moves meeting point after council mismanagement

A popular Boxing Day meet which usually takes place in Chard town centre bringing in hundreds of spectators, is being moved to a different location this year, after council officers mismanaged an application for a road closure from a local hunt.

The Cotley Harriers had completed and filed the relevant paperwork ahead of the event and within the specific time frame, but council officials have apologised claiming the application was 'not dealt with in an appropriate way'. Despite the 'positive engagement' between the council's Events Traffic Management team and the hunt, the authority are now 'not able to progress any further with the application'.

In correspondence sent by the council to organisers of the meet, they claim the options going forward to correct the unidentified error ahead of the event on Monday 26^th December at 11:00am, are 'now considerably reduced given the event taking place in 7 days'. The authority would normally advertise a road closure for an event well in advance and 'there simply is not enough time to provide the adequate notification' ahead of Boxing Day.

As a result, the meeting point for the event will be moved, but horses will still ride through the town to ensure spectators are not let down, in such a way that does not require a road closure.

A spokesperson from the Cotley Harriers said: "The hunt has completed the relevant paperwork having understood the importance of our meet going ahead in the correct way. As a hunt, we also understand the importance of this event to the wider community, including local businesses who benefit from the extra footfall at this important time of year. Given what appears to be an unspecified error on the part of the council, we shall be seeking legal advice but in the meantime we will be updating our Boxing Day meeting point in order to avoid disruption. As ever, we shall ride through the town to ensure visitors are able to cheer on the hounds and horses and support the businesses that have opened for the day. We shall be working with the council in advance of next year to prevent an error like this from happening again."

The Countryside Alliance, a rural campaigning organisation with thousands of members and supporters across Somerset have said they will be scrutinising the matter more closely and is considering legal options.

Polly Portwin, a spokeswoman for the organisation said: "While the Cotley Harriers will still be meeting, there are clearly questions over the handling of the application for a road closure which remain unanswered on the part of the council. Transparency in the decision-making process by local authorities is paramount and it is simply not good enough for any council to mismanage an important application like this, knowing how important it is to the local community. There should be no reason this event cannot take place as normal next year and all steps must be taken by the council to ensure that is the case."

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