Rising costs cancel city's Christmas lights event

An event traditionally held to mark the switch on of Inverness' Christmas lights will not take place this year because of the expense.

Highland Council said the lights above the city's streets would still be turned on, but other attractions such as a switch on ceremony and torchlight procession would not.

The lights and ceremonies are paid for out of the Inverness Common Good Fund, a pool of money used for the benefit of community projects.

A council spokeswoman said: “It was a decision of the events and festivals working group not to have a Christmas lights switch on event. 

"This was in part due to the rising cost and the capacity to deliver."

According to council papers from 2019, the common good fund provides about £60,000 towards the cost of Inverness' Christmas lights.

Volatile rates

In September, leaders at Highland Council warned that the local authority was facing an "unprecedented financial crisis".

The council is facing a potential £9.6m overspend this year, mostly due to high levels of inflation, and a possible £40.9m hole in its budget next year.

Last month, Highland Council also warned of the pressures it could face for the next 60 years due to volatile interest rates.

Officials said that, of Scotland's 32 councils, the local authority had already spent the largest portion of its annual revenue budget to fund the repayment of loans charges.