For Marlborough’s Mop Fairs to continue, a new contract has to be agreed between the Showman’s Guild (who provide and oversee the fairs) and Wiltshire Council (who provide the High Street.)
This agreement will have a new schedule of health and safety requirements.
But it will also have a clause laying down rules for High Street residents who need to take their cars into the closed High Street while the fair attractions are there.
They will have to drive under supervision of a steward, at walking pace and with hazard lights on.
At the town council meeting on September 8, Councillor Noel Barrett-Morton who lives in the High Street, asked that this new clause should include the provision of windscreen stickers to prove to the Showman’s Guild’s marshals and security people that their cars should have access.
The good news for town councillors was that the new agreement increases the money paid to the council for use of Marlborough Common by the Showman’s Guild as a lorry park will rise from £850 to £1,030.