PARISH councils could face massive bills for Remembrance Sunday commemorations in the near future as they struggle to comply with strict new advice about public safety.

Sgt Bill Dutton told Tuesday's meeting at Middleton in Teesdale of issues raised by the Teesdale Safety Advisory Group regarding community events which involved road closures.

"There has been some ignorance on the part of the police and the council in the past, with us just turning up when requested to stop traffic," he said. "But that is not strictly allowed, and there is now a push for it to be done in an appropriate manner.

"The crux is that you need a road closure order," he added. "Police have powers to stop traffic for unexpected emergencies, but not for pre-planned events. We've always closed roads in the past as a gesture of goodwill, but if we act outside our powers we leave ourselves open to litigation."

The safety advisory group is a multi-agency panel which includes representatives from the police, district and county councils. It aims to help event organisers by making recommendations about safety measures, including road closures.

But its chairman, Peter Fayle, said that while individual members might represent bodies with legislative powers, the group had no such powers and offered advice on a "one-stop" basis. He said there was no charge for a road closure order. However, councillors feared that if they did not comply with advice, it could be they who faced litigation.

"It's holding people to ransom," said Coun Madeleine Sutcliffe.

Members were also concerned that in future not only would they need a road closure order, they would also have to meet traffic management costs offered by private companies, which involved erecting road closure signs. Such arrangements cost Barnard Castle Meet committee £922 this year.

The chairman, Coun Diana Mahood, who served with the Royal Military Police for 22 years, will represent the parish council at the Middleton service of Remembrance. She told Sgt Dutton that the road would be shut for only ten minutes while wreaths were laid and the silence observed, and felt it a complete waste of money to put up signs for such a short period.

"I think the bureaucracy over health and safety issues is going a little bit to the extreme," she said. "No community group should have to jump through such hoops or face such crippling charges."

Sgt Dutton gave details of a local four-day course which could help to reduce costs by training organisations to erect their own signs. He also thought the police would be prepared to send one or two officers to close the road this year, providing a closure order was in place.

"I can't see anyone objecting to us closing the road for a ten-minute time slot for what is a national event," he added.