Council to spend thousands on park lights despite expert’s concern

Councillors have committed to spending up to £68,000 on installing lights in King George V Park (KGV) to improve safety during when its dark, despite concerns raised by a local lighting expert and his proposal for a cheaper option. 

In December last year, councillors agreed to install swan neck column lighting, which is in keeping with other lighting in the town centre, with a budget of £60,000. However, park lighting was discussed again at the Asset Management and Amenities meeting on Monday, 5th June, as the anticipated costs for the project have exceeded the budget.

Speaking at the meeting, Paul Weymouth of Light Fantastic, asked the council to consider an alternative lighting option for the park by installing festoon lighting, a string of ‘party-style’ lights, which he said this would be a third of the cost, protect wildlife due to the dimness of the lights and require less groundwork and maintenance.

He said, “You are about to spend a significant amount of money on a project that I don’t think is as well thought out as it can be. We think there is a much better way of doing it. The obvious solution is to use festoon lighting which has been discussed by the town council about 10 years ago. We want to see the job done properly by whoever, to make sure that Melksham’s money is spent properly, and everything’s done how it should be and ultimately the park becomes a venue and a destination, rather than just a park with some street lights in.”

Speaking in response, the mayor, cllr Simon Crundell said, “There was a lot of discussion about continuity through the town and that is why we have the design we do. These are expensive because they are in our town’s main park. We have discussed this, we’ve debated it, it’s been voted on with a majority that’s for pride and continuity throughout our town centre. We’ve got expensive lights through our town which do look nice and smart and that is why we’ve voted for continuity. I think we need to get on and do this.”

Agreeing with Paul Weymouth’s proposal, cllr Colin Goodhind explained he’d seen festoon lighting used successfully at a recent event in the park. He said, “Seeing what that could do for the park at the fraction of the cost, I personally feel that that is actually the way forward. I can’t possibly support spending the sort of money we were considering spending a year ago. It’s all very well getting on and doing something, but circumstances do change and other ideas come forward and just to stick to it because it seemed like the best idea at the time – I don’t think that’s necessarily an argument.”

Speaking again in support of the council looking at this option, Paul Weymouth, who is responsible for the town’s annual Christmas lights display said, “There is a better way to do this and there’s one right in front of you that could easily be delivered for about a third if not less than the cost, that would look nice, would make it an actual venue and attraction, that will serve to provide equal light and doesn’t have nasty spills of light or columns. I feel strongly that this is an option that should be looked at.”

Despite this, cllr Tom Price put forward the motion to take £8,000 out of the major project reserves budget to move forward with the initial plans at a cost of no more than £68,000.  Cllr Price said, “I still think it’s important to push through and put the extra money into the lights and get this done.” It was agreed by the majority of councillors