Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WATT A SHOCKER
Council to spend £535,000 on Christmas lights amid lockdown
MORE than half a million pounds will be spent on Christmas lights by a council in Northern Ireland as Covid-19 continues to claim lives and livelihoods
Lisburn and Castlereagh Council is to push ahead with its £535,000 Light Festival as families and business struggle with life under lockdown.
Green councillor Si Lee said: “It is a substantial amount of money at a challenging time – plus I also have some safety concerns about it.”
The decision comes after a further nine Covid-related deaths i n Northern Ireland, which included a victim aged 19 or under.
£535k
A COUNCIL is set to push ahead with its £535,000 festive spend after councillors knocked back a bid to cut costs.
The budget for the Lisburn Light Festival was rubber-stamped at a full council meeting on Tuesday - but had already passed in a “heated” closed door debate the week before.
The Development Committee gave unanimous support to the plan on October 7.
An attempt to wind back the cost failed in a second, confidential meeting on October 21.
Speaking before the full council, Alliance Alderman Stephen Martin said he wished to “register his dissent” and proposed all 40 elected representatives get a vote on whether installations be dropped to “substantially reduce” the cost.
The Lisburn North representative added: “There was a heated debate and the committee decided to go a different way [to the proposal to cut costs].
“I think when we’re committing this council to a significant amount of money, given the current economic circumstances, I think all 40 members should be on record on this particular programme as to whether they’re in favour of it going ahead as is, or as amended.”
He was backed by Green councillor Si Lee, who previously said the decision to splash out more than half a million pounds on the light festival was “wrong-headed”.
Mr Lee added: “It is a substantial amount of money at a challenging time, plus I also have some safety concerns about it.”
the cost of the festive spend for Lisburn, voted for by councillors
MOTION
A motion to go into a confidential session to allow all members to have their say was voted down by the DUP and UUP.
Alliance, the Green Party, Sinn
Fein and SDLP were in favour. Speaking at Tuesday’s full council meeting, Mayor Nicholas Trimble said: “This wasn’t the first time we made the decision - that was the third, or arguably the fourth time.”
The Lisburn Christmas display will be on the same scale as 2019 - with the addition of Covid safety measures.
Installations include a light canopy on Bow Street, prisms at Market Square and “angel photo stations”.
The festival will extend to Dundonald for the first time.
A food market is flagged as a possibility, depending on public health advice. The council has bid for £100,000 for festivities from the Department for Communities.
Councillors ruled out Halloween fireworks after a report dubbed them a costly “15-minute display in a time of austerity”.
A socially-distanced drive-in event – floated for Balmoral Park – would have cost up to £50,000.
It’s a substantial amount of money at a challenging time GREEN COUNCILLOR SI LEE ON THE PROPOSED SPEND
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2 Monster (5)
3 Fizzy drink (4)
4 Louse egg (3)
5 Green petrol? (8)
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13 Linked series (5)
15 Spirited horse (4)
17 Brace (3) ACROSS: 2 Patent, Taxi, 7 Mete, 8 Run, 11 Open, 13 Mayhem, Amid, DOWN: 1 Tare, 2 Piper, 3 Emit, 4 Tehran, Maimed, 9 Nomad, 10 Cyan, 12 Edit.
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