POLICE in Bolton are asking for a review of force policy after turning down requests to man this year’s Whit Walks in Kearsley.

For decades members of three churches in Kearsley — St Stephen’s CE, St John Fisher RC and Kearsley Mount Methodists — have marched every year.

But when they contacted the police to confirm the date and time of this year’s march, officers said they were not able to police the event.

A change in the law means police can now hand over responsibility for controlling parades to local authorities.

But, because local authorities cannot physically police marches, they have to enforce costly, temporary road closures to ensure the events pass safely — with the cost often being passed on to the marching groups.

Bolton Council said it could only allow this year’s march if marchers walked on the pavements — the alternative would be to charge the churches, which would also have to produce a road traffic management plan.

Now officers are asking if they can take back responsibility for policing some marches and parades, to help out the churches.

Carol Dyson, a spokesman for the three churches, said: “We just want a simple walk of witness and we fall foul of this law. It is unbelievable.

“We have always done it for as long as I can remember and I am 64. I have never known there not to be one.”

The walkers were determined to go ahead with Sunday’s march so altered their traditional route around the A666 so that they could walk on pavements and along quiet roads.

Insp Stuart Wrudd, of Bolton South police, said Greater Manchester Police policy changed following the Traffic Management Act 2004, which allowed forces to pass responsibility for policing parades to local authorities. “I completely and utterly empathise with the walkers’ positions and I am doing everything possible to resolve the situation,” he added.

Senior Bolton officers have now asked the force to look at the legislation to see if policy can be changed and they can resume policing community walks, he said.

“We are not the only division raising this as an issue,” added Insp Wrudd.

A council spokeswoman said the authority had worked with the churches so that the march could go ahead in some form as it did not have the manpower to police the march.

She added: “In order for the walk to go ahead in the road, they would need to provide us with a road traffic management plan to ensure safety.”