AN ARMED forces charity was charged £330 by the council for closing a road during Battle of the Somme commemorations.

The Royal British Legion Hay-on-Wye branch was charged the sum for closing The Square in the town for the day of the centenary event earlier this month.

This was the second of three events the legion are hosting in Hay-on-Wye to mark the First World War.

A spokesman for Powys County Council said: "The charge was £330 because it was the second of three annual events so attracted the reduced fee.

"Last year they held a similar event under a closure commemorating the Hay Territorial Army in WW1.

"But the charge then was at the old price of £260- the fee increase came into effect about the middle of October.

"Remembrance parades are not charged as part of a county-wide agreement."

Andrew Williams, Hay-on-Wye Chamber of Commerce thinks that the council should re-consider the charges for such events

He added: "It's disappointing that Powys County Council felt they had to charge such a large fee for the parade.

"I understand that there are logistical issues in closing roads, and hard costs in terms of staff time. But if the council is making a profit on closures associated with these sort of important community events then I don't think that's acceptable.

"Whether it's rubbish collections or road closures, the people and businesses in Hay are looking for a common sense, flexible approach from the county council, and too often we are seeing 'one size fits all' instead."

Former councillor Dawn Lewis is calling for the council to refund the money.

She said: "I think it's disgusting to charge for closing the square for something that is serving the town and there were hundreds of people at the event."