Cheltenham Christmas lights switch-on cancelled
- Published
There will be no Christmas lights switch-on event in Cheltenham this year due to lack of funds.
The borough council says there is no spare money for an event like last year's in the town's Imperial Gardens.
The spokeswoman said it cost £33,000 to stage including stewards, road closures, and lighting. It excludes council staff's time.
She said that there would still be a full display of lights and street entertainment.
'No base budget'
The council spokeswoman said: "The cost of running the switch on event is £33,000.
"This includes among other things all health and safety requirements, stewards, police, road closures, staging, lighting, street entertainment, parade vehicles, big screen TV, acts, fireworks and publicity.
"This does not include Cheltenham Borough Council staff time to organise and work the event. There is no base budget for this event and in recent years the council has used one-off money and contributions from local businesses to support this."