The council that stole Christmas! Rules and regulations jeopardise town’s festive lights display

MELKSHAM Christmas Lights Group fear that rules introduced by Wiltshire Council could severely impact the town’s popular festive display.

The local voluntary group say that they are no longer allowed to string Christmas lights between street lighting columns – a ‘major’ part of the town’s display for over 30 years – because of safety  concerns. The group say the lights in the town have ‘never fallen down or caused any incident’.

Wiltshire Council’s ‘Festive lighting in the highway’ policy and guidance document also disallows the use of ladders being leant against  lighting columns as part of the installation process – a key method used by the voluntary group to decorate the town. 

Instead the guidance – recommended by Wiltshire Council’s long-term contractors, Atkins, who  manage the county’s lighting – states that lights should be installed by a ‘suitable contractor’.

Paul Weymouth from the Christmas Lights Group said, “It feels like they (Atkins) are trying to stamp out the voluntary aspect of the group by suggesting that only registered contractors can install the lights. We have a long history of run-ins with Atkins – it could be a personal issue with me, or it could be with the whole Christmas Lights group – either way, these rules from Atkins that have been adopted by the Wiltshire Council cabinet will restrict what the Christmas Lights Group can do this year.

“As we stand, there will be no lighting across the streets and quite possibly through the town itself, with the only areas away from their control being the Town Hall and tree.”

News of the Christmas Lights Group’s difficulties have spread quickly across social media, with the majority of residents up in arms about the possible loss of the town’s festive string lighting. One resident has launched an online petition against the rules, with at the time of going to press, over 1,100 supporters signed up in a few days.

Melksham Town Council has also offered its support to the group. Town clerk for the town council, Linda Roberts, told Melksham News, “We will work with both the Christmas Lights Group and  Wiltshire Council to find a suitable solution to this problem.”

In response to questions from Melksham News about the impact of the rules on Melksham’s Christmas lights display, Bridget Wayman, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for highways said, “We welcome festive decorations across the county and do all we can to make this process as easy as possible for those involved in arranging them.

“In February 2018, an updated policy and guidelines were agreed to establish safe installation and energy supply arrangements for lighting mounted or connected to the street lighting columns. These guidelines, which were in place during last year’s festive lights installation throughout Wiltshire, ensure lighting is installed correctly and safely for the public – and that’s our top priority. We use the expertise of our long-term contractor Atkins to make sure the guidelines are followed.

“Decorations can be spanned across the road, but this must be between adjoining buildings rather than lighting columns, as this has caused some issues in the past.

“Christmas lights and decorations are installed throughout Wiltshire every year with very few problems and we’re confident that will be the case again this year.”