Sutton Council waives fees for VE Day Street Parties

The 8th of May will be the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) and in Sutton we want to encourage residents and community groups to plan street parties as a shared moment of celebration to mark this historic event.

To help make this happen, Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Sam Martin, announced at Monday night’s Council Meeting that Sutton Council would be waiving the fee for road closures and streamline the process to make it as easy as possible for communities to hold street parties to mark this historic day. This will apply to events on the day or the weekend before or after.   

I am looking forward to seeing our borough decorated with bunting and flags to both celebrate and commemorate the end of the war in Europe and to continue to remember those who made the sacrifice defending our nation to allow us to have the freedoms we have today.

The ending of the War in Europe did reveal the full horrors of the Nazi Concentration Camps and Monday 27th January was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz- Birkenau. It was an honour to attend Sutton’s Holocaust Memorial Day event at Sutton Grammar School, where I was pleased to see many students from local schools attending alongside residents, colleagues and members of inter-faith groups.

It is important we remember the past. We must never forget those who lost their lives, or those whose lives were impacted by the war. However, we must also look to the future and to have hope, opportunity and community spirit for all of us who live, work and visit Sutton.