A FORMER Army officer has criticised road chiefs after the same department approved and rejected plans for the same event.

Retired Scots Guard officer Charley Grimston wants to stage a military band concert for 1,000 people on Armed Forces Day on June 26 at his Old Rectory home in Finmere, near Bicester.

Mr Grimston has been given a temporary licence by Cherwell District Council to stage the one-day event to raise funds for the Scots Guards’ Colonel’s Fund.

But a planning application for a marquee, toilets and parking areas has been recommended for refusal by the council’s officers.

The recommendation was based on concerns by Oxfordshire County Council’s highways department over safety, because of the high number of people expected to arrive by car.

Mr Grimston said highways and police had approved the event at an earlier licensing committee meeting.

But plans for a marquee to protect the musicians had prompted objections from the highways department.

He said: “Part of granting the licence was approval of the event plan and traffic management plan that overcame all objections to the weight of traffic.

“The second application relates to a temporary structure and there were some objections from highways.

“But highways has got two tails, one lot of highways approved, the other lot objected.”

The Royal Band of the Scots Guards and its regimental drummers will perform at the event.

Mr Grimston said he needed to put up a marquee in case it rained as the band would be in full ceremonial dress uniform.

“If that gets wet it’s expensive to repair as they have to be shrunk back into shape again,” he said.

“The whole thing is a self inflicted wound. There’s no logic for refusal other than the county council being badly organised in the highway’s department.”

He said the concert would be a fantastic event raising money to provide for families of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and for injured servicemen, who had “long-term horrific injuries both physical and mental”.

In a report, the county council raised concerns about the amount of traffic the concert would generate, exacerbated by people walking to and from the event.

Residents also raised concerns about the size of the event, which would effectively be in the middle of the village.

Mike Kerford-Byrnes, chairman of Finmere Parish Council, said: “There was some quite high feeling in the village because of the scale of it.

“Every single letter said they support the idea of the event, but it’s inappropriately set because Finmere can’t hack it.

“We’ve got very few actual footpaths and parking is limited.”

The planning application was due to be decided last night. Even if it is refused, the event can still go ahead as the licence has been approved.

  • On Saturday, the1st Battalion Scots Guards will be granted the freedom of Wantage.