No road closures for hunting
Action Against Foxhunting (AAF) in Somerset claimed at the weekend that Somerset County Council (SCC) were abusing their power. They stated that “SCC are using emergency powers (reserved for emergency roadworks) to close roads for Boxing Day hunt parades this year.” The AAF went on to note that this action was outrageous.
Which to be fair, it would have been. If it was true.
Needless to say a Twitter storm ensued with a lot of indelicate language and accusations and counter accusations.
We got in touch with SCC to ask what was going on. Were hunts being given special treatment and more to the point, were SCC abusing their powers?
This morning we received a statement from them. Their spokesperson told us “We can confirm that the council is not using any powers to close roads for hunt meets this year. We have spoken to the hunts identified by AAF and two have confirmed they will meet on private land and the third will not be closing the road. We apologise for any misunderstandings in relation to this matter.“
It was true, SCC back tracked after receiving over 2000 complaints.