A 78-year-old former Canterbury councillor is ready padlock himself to a “precious” Victorian lamppost to stop the local authority destroying it.
Richard Parkinson, who once served as Sheriff of Canterbury and now holds the honorary title of city alderman, has vowed to chain himself to the historic structure if council workers try to remove it.
“I’m not throwing out just an idle threat,” he told KentOnline. “I really mean it. If they come along with a digger to remove it, I’ll be out there to chain myself to the lamppost.”
The picture restorer has already taken matters into his own hands, personally cleaning and repainting the cast-iron post in St Peter’s Lane.
He describes these Victorian structures as “precious” features that Canterbury must “preserve at all costs”.
The row erupted after it was revealed that the Reform-led Kent County Council might replace as many as 240 historic lampposts across the city if inspections find them to be corroded and unsafe.
These are not just any old streetlights – they were crafted by HM Biggleston & Sons Foundry, a city firm that produced distinctive cast-iron street furniture from the mid-19th century until it closed in 1963.
The lampposts still standing in Canterbury are believed to be the only surviving examples of the foundry’s work.
The historic lampposts are expensive to repair, but Richard Parkinson insists the council fork out the cash to keep the historic features
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The trouble started when nine lampposts on Cossington Road failed safety checks due to corrosion.
Engineers reckoned proper restoration would cost up to £5,000 per post, potentially totalling nearly £1million if all 242 remaining Biggleston lampposts needed work.
Steel replicas come in at roughly £800 each – a tempting saving for the cash-strapped, Reform-run county council.
Heritage campaigners are furious about the plans, though.
Former Liberal Democrat councillor Richard Parkinson has insisted he will not leave the lamppost, even if bulldozers arive
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The Canterbury Society and Alliance of Canterbury Residents Association have joined forces to launch a “Save Canterbury’s Streetlights” campaign.
Ptolemy Dean, president of the Canterbury Society and conservation architect who surveys the fabric at Westminster Abbey, was left fuming by the proposed plans.
“The proposed replacements are off-the-peg fixtures with so-called heritage attract additions, which are grotesque-looking things that do not benefit or grace the streets of a World Heritage Site,” he said.
ACRA’s business secretary, David Kemsley, is equally passionate about protecting the posts.
“These lamp columns are as much a part of Canterbury’s story as its walls or gates,” he said. “To replace them with mass-produced steel poles is cultural vandalism.”
Faced with mounting opposition, county council bosses have paused any replacements while discussions continue with Canterbury City Council.
Peter Osborne, KCC’s cabinet member for highways and transport, took to Facebook to defend the authority’s position.
“Kent County Council has not been ripping out all the lampposts in Canterbury, and most of the city’s lampposts are not even Victorian,” he said.
He explained that since 2020, only cast-iron columns proven unsafe have been swapped out, with steel versions featuring heritage-style details.
“Painting them doesn’t fix internal corrosion or underground damage,” he added.
The council says ornate lanterns will be reused and is working on “even better designs” with the city council.
“Public safety comes first,” Cllr Osborne insisted.