Town ordered to remove knitted bunting to celebrate Tour de France because bosses are worried the 'wool will bend lamp-posts'
Residents in Masham, Yorkshire, spent months knitting wooly jerseys Created to celebrate Tour de France passing through village next month

Hand-sized creations were hung between lamp-post in market square But council took them down saying weight was bending the metal poles


Council bosses have ordered a town on Yorkshire to take down home-knitted Tour de France bunting after claiming the weight of the wool was causing streetlights to bend.

Residents from Masham, in the Yorkshire Dales, spent months knitting more than 20,000 jerseys in the Tour's signature colours of yellow, green and white with red dots to hang between lamp-posts.

But yesterday workers arrived from North Yorkshire County Council to taken them down, because officials worried the metal poles were 'leaning' under the weight of the wool after it got wet.

Council workers have forced residents in Mashman, Yorkshire, to take down bunting they knitted to celebrate the Tour de France after claiming it was bending the lamp-posts

Officials complained that the metal poles were 'leaning' under the weight of the bunting after it got wet, so residents have been told to had it on buildings or trees instead



Tessa Klemz, 45, Manager of Mashamshire Community Office, said: 'It’s health and safety gone bananas.

'Sheep don’t fall over when they get wet. If the lamp posts are that flimsy and fragile they need looking at.

'They have been there for years and we don’t think a few jerseys - that weigh nothing - are going to make any difference.

“We have not seen any bending at all and we have had more than our share of rain. We did not want it to end up in a corner of some council building.

'So we have taken the bunting back and it is hanging from guttering, windows, and the doorways and arches of houses without any problems.

'You would think the council has better things to spend our money on.'

Harrogate Borough Council asked residents to knit woolen jerseys in November last year to hang around nearby villages as the tour passed through, and received entries from as far afield as Canada and Bermuda.

After the entries were collected, Masham was given 40 metres of the bunting to hang from half a dozen 20ft tall lamp posts in the market square.

But North Yorkshire County council, who are charged with taking care of streetlights in the town, overruled them and demanded the decorations be taken down.

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