Councils spend more on their festive lights

TOWN HALL bosses across Yorkshire have proved they are no Scrooges when it comes to Christmas by continuing to increase their spending on festive lights, with almost £1.7m splashed out on decorations and switch-on events this year.

The figure represents a slight rise in spending on last year and 2015, with authorities turning increasingly to lucrative sponsorship deals to ensure festive celebrations are not impacted by budget cuts. Figures released to

under the Freedom of Information Act showed £1.69m was spent on decorations by local authorities in the region this year, up from £1.66m in 2016 and £1.59m in 2015. This year, councils including Wakefield, York, Hull and Barnsley benefited from external sponsorship for festive displays and light switch-ons, with more than £340,000 contributed from external sources.

Barnsley Council increased spending on lights and decorations from £27,000 two years ago to £36,098 this year, which included the cost of new electricity supplies and timing clocks for lampposts affected by the redevelopment of the town centre, maintenance work and increased security to “reflect the current national threat level”.

It spent £15,000 on its switchon event in November – but almost half that figure, £7,000, came from sponsorship.

A spokesman said support from the private sector was “increasingly important” in a time of austerity.

Bradford Council was able to save the £52,000 it spent on a lights switch-on event in 2016 as the Broadway shopping centre hosted an event this November. The city’s budget for lights and decorations has remained the same at £151,000 since 2005.

Of the £98,000 spent in York this year, £51,000 was provided by York BID Co Ltd.

Spending on lights in Hull increased 50 per cent, from £43,488 in 2016 to £65,508 – £1,000 of which came from sponsors. The increased figure included a new lighting scheme and a specially commissioned star-themed installation in Queen Victoria Square as part of the UK City of Culture celebrations.

The highest spend on lights and decorations was in Leeds, which spent £573,441, a six per cent reduction from 2016, when it spent £609,076. The lights switch-on cost £76,134.

Internal and external income brought in £261,502, making the total council spend to £411,837 – a reduction from £427,686 in 2016 and in £446,934 in 2015.

A Leeds Council spokesman said it used a variety of methods to bring down the cost, including boosting external income by providing external light displays in areas outside Leeds.