Tory Wandsworth to fine children for climbing trees, flying kites and playing cricket

I have remarked before - when writing about Leicestershire's hated sprout police - that Conservative councils are very keen on petty regulations. Often it is Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors who argue for freedom.

Take Wandsworth, which always used to be seen as the Thatcherites' flagship borough in London.

According to the Evening Standard:

It has always been seen as one of the most innocent of childhood pursuits, a rite-of-passage physical challenge fondly recalled in adult life. 

But now killjoy councillors in London are threatening a clampdown on tree climbing in dozens of public parks - with the threat of a £500 fine to back it up. 

Children in Wandsworth clambering up an oak or a maple without “reasonable excuse” will face the wrath of park police under a new set of rules governing behaviour in its 39 open spaces. 

Along with tree climbing, such traditional outdoor pursuits as kite flying or a knockabout game of cricket - along with other pursuits considered “annoying” to others - could fall foul of the regulations.

How to explain this?

I am reminded of the insight of The Age of Insecurity by Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson: Thatcher set money free but left people more constrained by regulation.

Oncw again, I am driven to the conclusion that the problem with British Conservatives is that they are not Conservative enough. Climbing trees, flying kites and playing cricket is precisely what a British Conservative should want children to be doing.