ORGANISERS have hit out at red tape strangling Bridport Carnival on its 40th anniversary.

They have condemned rule changes which mean they have to fill in a 22-page form for road closures which comes with 37 pages of guidance notes.

They say they lodged one A4-sized form with West Dorset District Council in January to close streets for the summer showpiece on August 20-21, as with previous years.

But three months later Dorset County Council said they had to fill in another 22 pages of forms and pay a £100 fee per road closure.

The group is calling for extra help from the county council but insists the Bridport News-backed carnival will go ahead.

Carnival chairman Shaun Fox said: “We are all volunteers and we have day jobs. We need an council officer to help us.”

Secretary Linda Moore added: “David Cameron is always going on about the Big Society. This is achieving exactly the opposite.

“They are changing things but not putting the support in place.”

The committee intends to close three streets – although the town council is handling the closure of South Street on carnival night – for its procession on August 20 and torchlight procession on August 21.

The form covers health and safety details but also demands details about exact sizes of signs and details of parking spaces.

Committee members said that some events don’t even make the £100 that road closures cost.

Committee member Karen Hussey said: “Nobody has the time or money to fill out these forms. It is a minimum of £75 per closure and could be up to £200.”

In March, Dorset County Council took over responsibility for the closures on advice from its legal team.

It said that the Town and Police Clauses Act of 1847 previously administered by district councils for closures was unsafe and that police would no longer support it.

County council road space manager Kevin Cheleda said that the authority had agreed to meet with the carnival committee to help them fill in the forms.

He added: “The application form is based on those used by other local authorities but simplified.

“It is basically a checklist and is fairly straightforward to complete.

“The £100 fee recognises there is a cost in administering road closures. This fee is significantly discounted, with the actual cost being nearer £300.”

West Dorset District Council legal and democratic manager Glen Harding apologised for the inconvenience caused by the new rules.

He added: “While we offered to continue to process road closure applications already submitted to us, including the application made by Bridport Carnival, we were advised that applications for road closures that were not due to take place within the following month should be transferred to the county council for processing.”