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30
Jul
Another year with no Harrogate Christmas lights switch-on event, councillors decide
Central Harrogate looks set to go another year without an official ceremony to switch on the Christmas lights, after Harrogate town councillors voted not to fund one.
The lights are paid for by Harrogate BID, but the organisation does not fund a switching-on event because it says members do not think it would be worth the cost.
But prior to Harrogate Town Council coming into being in April 2025, Cllr Chris Aldred – who became the council’s first mayor – said he thought a switching-on ceremony was something "the incoming Harrogate Town Council would consider taking on".
In Ripon, the lights have been switched on by Father Christmas.
However, at the first ever meeting yesterday of the council’s culture, events and heritage committee – of which Cllr Aldred is not a member – councillors heard that the cost of mounting such an event would be prohibitively high.
The town council has an annual events budget of just £50,000, but Paul Forster, the council’s events and culture lead, said that a switch-on event would cost an estimated £20,000 – 40% of the council’s annual events budget.
The costs would include updating the lighting technology, as well as event security and a possible road closure.
Cllr Elizabeth Jackson said:
It’s an awful lot of money for an event that lasts for such a short amount of time. It would be imprudent to spend £20,000 of taxpayers’ money without their approval.
Following discussion, councillors agreed not go ahead with a switch-on event, but to give consideration to future such events, and to delegate Mr Forster to investigate the constraints around the current lighting infrastructure.
Costs could be 'astronomical'
Although Harrogate BID funds the town centre’s Christmas light, it does not fund a switch-on event. Research the BID conducted in 2024 revealed that 60% of its levy-payers, which are town-centre businesses, did not feel such an event would benefit them in terms of footfall or sales.
But the BID is approaching its first Christmas with a new manager, Jason Maxwell, so we asked him if its policy might change this year.
Jason Maxwell, chief executive of Harrogate BID.
Mr Maxwell told us:
It’s not something that we have in our plans to do. A lot of businesses don't think it’s worth it, but also the cost is huge and we wouldn’t have it in our budget. The costs of safety barriers alone would be in the thousands of pounds, [which] given the new Martyn’s Law guidance would be astronomical.
Martyn’s Law was named after Martyn Hett, who was killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena bomb attack. Formally known as the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, it improves public safety through a tiered security system, but also often has cost implications that can be significant, especially for smaller events.
Mr Maxwell said another factor adding to the costs was the lighting infrastructure, which has not been updated since before the 2020 covid pandemic. He said:
The other issue is the technology to switch them on all at the same time. Many towns or cities now have wifi or Bluetooth on lights/lampposts, but we don't have that here, and the technology to adapt them would be too much for us to do.
He added:
We supply all the lights for the town centre and happy to continue to do this to support the town centre over the Christmas period. We will also be announcing our Christmas programme in due course.
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