Henry Smith MP this morning slammed reports from the Pound Hill North Residents Association that a health and safety missive has been issued banning park benches from being installed beneath trees.

Henry, commenting after his statement on the floor of the House of Commons this morning, said:

“I’m appalled by reports I’ve received from local residents claiming that they’ve been prevented from installing a beautiful work of art in the shape of a circular bench around a tree in Worth Park Gardens due to health and safety regulations.  If accurate, this is quite clearly a nonsensical example of a ‘cotton wool’ culture that has corrupted our society.

“The directive would be in line with other attempted diabolical measures, such as the banning of conker fights, and would clearly be contrary to the polices of the Government which are targeted towards rolling back the tides of health and safety directives that emerged under the previous Government.

“Rest assured that whilst I’m representing this town in Parliament, I will fight any attempts to instigate such bonkers, nanny-state ideas and continue to stand for common-sense.”

In the newly appointed Leader of the House of Common’s response to Henry Smith’s Parliamentary Question, Andrew Lansley confirmed that, “common sense [is] at the heart of [Government] regulations.” 

The issue has now been passed on to the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills to investigate.