30 December 2023 , 09:09
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Residents claim to have “lost the festive spirit” over a disappointing Christmas lights display.
Unlike previous years there has been no big switch-on or late-night shopping in Salisbury, Wiltshire. On top of that the chalet-style Christmas market is much smaller and there is no large tree and ice rink for people to enjoy. As a result people have claimed the lack of festive shazam has left them particularly unfestive, especially as in previous years, Salisbury council have had a big Christmas tree on display in the city centre with a light switch on hosted by celebrities such as Olympian Colin Jackson and Coronation Street's Antony Cotton.
The spectacular lights in the city in 2019 (Susan Turner/Salis. Jrnl/Solent)Resident Peter Lord, 86, said he would have liked to have seen a big Christmas tree and his wife Carol, 75, added: "I was a little disillusioned, I must admit. It was a shame but maybe if a bit more thought went into it, it could've looked a bit more Christmassy."
Charlotte Copeman, 45, and her family travelled to Salisbury especially for the display and admitted to feeling disappointed by the offerings. The mother of one said: "We went to Winchester and had an awesome day out, we also came here to do it today and there's absolutely nothing-we're really surprised, we spoke to some of the store owners and they said they were really disappointed."
Conservative Councillor Sven Hocking blamed the money being instead 'splurged' on attempting to reach net zero and 'green stuff', saying Christmas time should be when a council should goes 'wham' to satisfy local taxpayers. He added: “They've [the city council] got no money, so they can't throw anything at anything because they've splurged it all on green stuff and all the other rubbish that they've done, so it's a question of priorities.
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"They've gone over the top on the green stuff, to meet net zero, etcetera, etcetera, which is costing us an absolute fortune. If we spent less money on trying to become carbon neutral, which as a parish council will have absolutely no effect on anything whatsoever, and more on the visual stuff that people actually see - the council won't come under so much scrutiny.
"If you do nothing that the vast majority of your council taxpayers see, the assumption will be that you're not doing a very good job. Things like Christmas lights are those annual occasions where you can go wham and have a good time."
Chairman of the Events, Markets and Grants sub committee, Cllr Sam Charleston, defended the city's offering but said the people of Salisbury will 'see more next year'. He said: "The events we're doing are spread out more across the city. I appreciate all these things are a matter of taste, but I'm very happy with the amount of things that are going on this year. I think we will see more next year because that is the process we're undertaking."
Cllr Annie Riddle, who is part of the council's leadership team, added: "If people want more and they want the council to fund more, they will have to pay more council tax. Unless they want another big tax rise, we are doing our best to maintain the level of everyday services which people rely on and people expect from us, and we're doing our very best to provide Christmas festivities at a reasonable cost.”