Charitable and Community Events

: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen) on securing the debate, and thank him for allowing me to have two or three minutes to underpin his remarks and to raise one specific case, which is that of Yealmpton show, a show with which my hon. Friend will be extremely familiar as he used to represent the part of my constituency that comprises Yealmpton. It has been going on for well over 100 years and is a prime example of what my hon. Friend is talking about. Yealmpton show is the biggest show by far in my constituency and on a good day, when the weather is right, it can attract up to 10,000 people, 20 per cent. of whom are children. It is run by a registered charity and all the work is done by hard-working volunteers. It is not profit-making and any surplus is given away to charity. Ironically, recently it gave some money to the constabulary widows’ and orphans’ fund, not knowing that it would receive a bill for this year’s performance. Last year, the show made a loss because of bad weather. That is the sort of organisation that we are talking about. It is a day when people from the countryside and Plymouth come together and have a day of tremendous fun, which is exactly the kind of things we should be encouraging. However, this year the police have come to the organisers out of the blue and asked for payment to cover half of the cost of police engagement in the show. What does that engagement entail? It is not like Notting Hill carnival, where there have been riots and difficulties in the past. It is not about public order, but about a constable or two diverting traffic from the public highway into Yealmpton show field and carrying out ordinary police activities, which are obviously increased by the number of people using the field on a particular day. The show has been asked to pay nearly £2,000, which is money it can ill afford as a marginal activity. At a time when the Devon and Cornwall constabulary should be seeking to make friends rather than enemies in our part of the world, there will be a huge public reaction, because the Yealmpton show is so popular, when the demand for payment is realised by my constituents. People in South-West Devon are entitled to ask what on earth they are paying their taxes for. If something like policing the show is subject to an additional charge, what are we paying for generally through our taxes for the police? I hope that the Devon and Cornwall constabulary will think again. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes, I have written to the chief constable and still not received a reply. I hope that the constabulary will think again but, if not, I hope that the Minister will listen seriously to the case and take action that will cause the Devon and Cornwall constabulary to think again.