WHO would pull the plug on that great British tradition, the street party?

Step forward Hyndburn Council, who want folk to hold their celebrations for the Queen's Golden Jubilee next year in a park or recreation ground instead. They say there's too much traffic these days and it costs a lot of money to obtain street closure orders

But while caution and safety needs to be a consideration, surely, with a bit of common sense, co-operation and effort, councils could let people who want a good, old-fashioned street party next year have one.

It's not just that there is a big royal occasion to be marked -- though reduced regard for the monarchy nowadays, particularly among younger people, might make the jubilee an incidental reason for a party. It's that the street party is a special community event that needs to be encouraged and preserved.

When else do friends and strangers, family and neighbours -- mums and dads, kids and old folk -- get together in such fashion, joining in the organisation and the self-made fun on their own doorsteps? Anyone who has ever been to a street party as a child -- whether it was for VE Day in 1945, for the Coronation, the Silver Jubilee or the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981 -- will tell you it's something they will remember for the rest of their lives.

And, goodness knows, with so much gloom and doom clouding the world at present, the jubilee celebrations deserve to provide some much-needed relief and levity. The last big occasion Britain had to celebrate was the Millennium and, though it could not be said of towns in East Lancashire, many communities' efforts were disappointing.

So, let's not allow the Jubilee to be a flop -- and ensure that if people want to let their hair down, they should not only be allowed to, but encouraged to.

And it's notable that the spoilsport outlook being displayed at Hyndburn doesn't appear to be shared in neighbouring Blackburn where the council pledges to work with the communities who want to put on street parties. That's the can-do approach that we prefer.