Chris Woodness, our ward officer, has kindly forwarded the following:

The following information, if not already received by your planning leads, will I am sure be something you and your committees will want to be made aware of.
Our colleagues in Roads Service, we were recently made aware of a change in operational prioritisation by Police Scotland for support of local events, such as gala days and riding of the marches. Police Scotland, Nationally, Christmas Lights etc. have written to every event organisation, including across Dumfries and Galloway (See letter attached), relating to a review of Police Scotland support to these events going forward. This decision consequentially is likely to be reflected in scaling back on their support with traffic management for these events, a step which will undoubtedly have an impact on planning and delivery of many events across the region; As you know, many of which are run by small volunteer committees.
Our Council Roads Service have historically absorbed costs for a number of locally organised events i.e. erecting and removing signage etc. individually, the costs are relatively negligible, however over the course of the year adding up to a substantial investment of funding which is primarily intended to be spent on repairing roads.
Roads colleagues believe we are going to find ourselves in a position where DGC are going to be asked to help/support more local events from 2025. Likely to facilitate Traffic Management costs to fund road closures which may previously have been managed by Police Scotland.
As outlined starkly in the letter, many events will have no option but to significantly adapt, raise significant additional funds, or sadly cease. I am aware this issue has been raised in the Scottish Parliament, and although not directly impacting many of our communities, I thought it important to highlight this shift in support to you all as you look to develop your event  programmes for 2025 and beyond.
You will note Police Scotland have provided an email address for you to direct questions, and or, raise concerns you and your committee’s may have.
Please click here to view the letter from Police Scotland.