A PARADE to commemorate Rorke’s Drift hero John Fielding VC has been cancelled because Gwent Police cannot help with stopping traffic.

Private John Fielding, from Ty Coch in Cwmbran, served as Pte John Williams and received the Victoria Cross for his part in the 1879 Battle of Rorke’s Drift, defending a remote station against 4,000 Zulus.

For the last 16 years, Cwmbran and District Ex-Services Association (CADESA) has organised a parade on the anniversary of the battle in memory of Pte Williams, from Abbey Fields roundabout in Llantarnam, up Newport Road to St Michael’s Church, where Pte Williams is buried, and back again – which takes a maximum of 30 minutes.

The parade has become so popular – with up to 400 spectators and 85 marchers including a band – that for the last two years, CADESA has applied to Torfaen council to close a section of Newport Road for one hour, and Gwent Police handled the traffic management.

But organisers say they have been forced to cancel this year’s parade – due to take place on January 21 – because Gwent Police will no longer carry out traffic management.

The force said this is because of changes in national guidelines from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), but CADESA chairman Tony Burnett said they had not been notified of any changes.

Mr Burnett said: “We’re just gutted.

It’s not a carnival, it’s an act of remembrance for a local hero.”

He added that all CADESA members were left “extremely devastated”

and in the “embarrassing position”

of having to tell the band booked for the day the parade was off.

Mr Burnett asked why police were present at other recent marches – such as the Martyr’s March in Newport, and a protest against plans for a Gipsy site in Bettws.

A spokeswoman for Gwent Police said officers do attend events or protests as part of general patrols or community engagement, but did not provide traffic management at these events.

The police spokeswoman added ACPO guidelines had been in place since 2009, although officers did help out with parades in 2010 while event organisers were made aware of the changes.

She added: “Organisers of any large-scale event are responsible for putting the appropriate traffic management plans in place to ensure the safety of road users and the free flow of traffic.”

CADESA will still meet on January 21 for a service at St Michael’s Church.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Pity about parade

IT IS a great shame that a longstanding parade honouring a Gwent hero has had to be cancelled due to a change in national police procedure.

Under Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guidelines police are no longer available for traffic control in the case of marches on public highways.

This therefore prevents such marches unless organisations are willing to take the risks of trying to control traffic on their own.

So Cwmbran and District Ex-services Association can no longer march through Llantarnam to honour the memory of Rorkes Drift hero John Fielding VC. This breaks a tradition that has grown up over the last 16 years.

Some angry members of the association are asking why police can be present at marches such as the Gipsy site demonstrations or the Muslim Martyrs march in Newport recently.

Police say they attended those events to ensure public order was maintained rather than to manage traffic.

We accept that Gwent Police are not to blame for this situation. The ACPO guidelines apply to all forces.

But we wish these guidelines allowed for a little discretion among police chiefs so embarrassing situations like this one could be avoided.