Over recent months, a Parish Council working group led by Cllr Liz Marshall, Cllr Rachael Grantham and Cllr Craig Browne has been looking at ways of improving the Christmas lights in our village.
Councillor Craig Browne explained "A catalyst in this decision has been the fact that the existing tree lights on London Road have reached the end of their natural life and are not expected to function beyond this year.
"Last year the Parish Council invested in new lights for the three Christmas Trees (one at the junction of Ryleys Lane, one at the junction of Macclesfield Road and one at Wood Gardens); ideally we would have liked to replace the tree lights on London Road this year, but the cost of doing so has proven prohibitive, meaning that we need more time to fundraise for this project."
This year they have been working with a range of suppliers to obtain designs and costings for decorative lights on the lamp columns along London Road - from the junction with Ryleys Lane to the junction with Macclesfield Road.
Local businesses have helped to shortlist the various options, which are now being put to local residents for your feedback.
Local residents are now being invited to indicate your order of preference from the shortlist of three designs, by following the link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CDTGQF3.
The supply costs are the same regardless of which option is chosen and are in the region of £5,000 to cover the 14 lamp columns concerned.
The survey will remain open until Monday 26th August and the Parish Council hope to publish the results on Tuesday 27th August.
Share your views on the proposed options via the comment box below.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I looked at the survey but I'm afraid I couldn't submit a response as I'm not particularly keen on any of them. The tree lights (when working and on all the trees) look fantastic and in keeping with the village. The suggested designs are a bit 'Blackpool' (thanks Fiona). Are they just a stop-gap until funds are raised for renewed tree lights?
Thank you for your comments. The column decorations would be supplied on a three-year contract; at the end of the three years, we could either select a different design or decide to dispense with them (having again asked people for their views).
Ideally we would have liked to replace the tree lights this year, but the lowest cost we have been quoted for them is approximately £30,000 which far exceeds our budget and therefore we need a further year over which to fundraise for replacement tree lights.
Of course, we could have chosen not to invest in the column decorations; however, given the real possibility that the existing tree lights will fail this year, this would leave us with a Christmas Lights Switch-On event at which there was nothing to switch on!
Best wishes,
Craig
That would be unthinkable.
Imagine the huge disappointment of the village children if they were denied the opportunity of gazing in awe as the latest Real Housewife Of Cheshire / WAG counts us (stutteringly) down to the start of the festive season.
I (for one) couldn’t countenance this break with tradition.
Option 3 please.
Also have you noticed that in one or two places, the tree lights are 'sagging' out of the trees and so need to be re-instated and it need not cost anything; I did it once by borrowing a step-ladder from a shop and just pushed the lghts back from whence they had 'escaped (seemples).