THE organisers of a march against the removal of roadside tributes has called for an annual silence to remember road crash victims.

More than 80 people held a symbolic protest in Bolton town centre on Saturday, laying flowers along the route from Newport Street to Victoria Square and on the steps of Bolton Town Hall.

Despite the lower-than-expected turnout, campaigners have vowed to continue their fight against a new council policy to remove memorials placed at the scene of road accidents after 30 days.

And the idea of holding a two-minute silence at 2pm on the last Saturday in January every year is being put to town hall chiefs.

March organiser Philip MacDougall said: “We were a bit disappointed that more people didn’t come down, but it was still good to see people protesting against it.

“We want to continue the fight to stop the council implementing this policy which we think is wrong. But we would also like to see a day set aside to remember people who have died on the streets of Bolton.

“Everyone feels so strongly about this because Bolton Council should be making the roads safer by tackling actual problems rather than upsetting families who are doing nothing wrong.”

More than 6,000 people have signed up to a Facebook group calling on the council to rethink its decision, which will only come into force once a permanent tree memorial is set up in Queens Park, Bolton. The policy, which was approved last week by the council’s Executive member for environmental services, Cllr Ismail Ibrahim, also states that non-perishable items will be kept for up to 90 days to allow families to reclaim teddies, photographs and ribbons. The council carried out a consultation exercise before finalising the new policy, with the majority of the 1,100 people who took part agreeing that 30 days was long enough for the memorials to be left at the side of the road.

A council spokesman said the tributes placed on the town hall steps would be removed, but only after the authority had given the protest organisers chance to collect them. He added: “We appreciate the importance for grieving families of having an event to remember their loved ones, and we are already looking into having some sort of annual service with victim support organisations once the permanent memorial is completed. ”

andrew.greaves@ theboltonnews.co.uk