Some stories also come from misunderstandings of Health & Safety legislation, or establishments blaming it because they do not want to carry out a Risk Assessment/ get adequate insurance/ actually be bothered with the event in the first place.
There was a report issued recently regarding stories which had come up through the local press which had nothing to do with Health & Safety.
For example
Local Child's Party Cancelled; Health & Safety Concerns because it's in a pub garden and a glass might have been left on a table from the night before. So family calls up the local fishwrapper, who go to the pub in question, who say blahblah health & safety. Picked up by a national because the Mum is fit and the child is a curly haired moppet with big eyes. Big headlines, then buried in the last line of the article is a quote from the Council saying they had not been approached regarding this issue.
When properly investigated it turns out that the pub in question just thought it might be a bit dangerous and you know what Health & Safety is like these days you're not allowed to do anything, and they were going to be short-staffed anyway...
So it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The report I read locally re the bunting was that there was one lampost which was affected. So rather than pay for repairs to ensure
it was safe, far better to remove the efforts of volunteers
It's the same thinking that cuts funding for successful patient treatment clincs (asthma, diabetes, obesity etc) where patients are helped to manage their own conditions by a pharmacist and a nurse prescriber. Save money in the short term. Increased medication costs and hospital admissions will happen in another fiscal year and from a different budget after all.