'Elf and Safety? Stuff and nonsense!

"Health and safety" is a completely rational reason for shutting something down that is obviously dangerous.  For example, if you have a bunch of donuts on the shelf and one of them has been tested for salmonella, you get rid of the remaining donuts as a precaution.  It's a waste to get rid of the donuts, but there's that rare chance that salmonella-contaminated donut in your hand might contaminate others.

Abuse of "health and safety" as an excuse to exert power and be an obnoxious killjoy is rampant in Britain.  The list of what constitutes banning things in the name of health and safety is pretty darn stupid, at least to this Yank.  Unless you're putting rocks in hanging baskets, using an ironing board to try out your new chainsaw by cutting vegetables with it, it's just plain grating for town councils to wag their bony bureaucratic fingers at others.

It's also narcissism gone amok: if the town's image is so sullied by people doing ordinary things such as flying kites, tying up bicycles, pouring tea, and having bake sales, while sweeping drug use, larceny, burglaries and assault under the rug, the town's priorities require a massive reworking and shakeup, including the public sacking of the people responsible for using "health and safety" as an excuse to spoil other people's livelihoods.