MINEHEAD Town Council has announced there will be new Christmas lights in the town this year – without repairing the electricity supply boxes in The Parade.
The repairs would have cost £7,000 to repair, and the boxes did not belong to the council in the first place.
The lights that were one of the town’s brightest festive features, along the street’s central islands, were powered for 20 years from electrical boxes on the traffic island but they were condemned as no longer fit for purpose, earlier this year.
No-one knew who owned the faulty boxes, and the council did not want to spend taxpayers’ money repairing them.
-Chris-Webb-Keith-Woolgar-and-Ray-Coleing.jpeg?width=209&height=140&crop=209:145,smart&quality=75)
Now it plans to have a number of Christmas trees which will be lit with LED battery lights – with nine boxes of them donated by The Lighting Company of Minehead, together with others the council bought.
“We bought another nine boxes and we feel sure it will create a lovely Christmas atmosphere in the town,” a spokesman said.
“We are unable to have an official switch-on but we hope to have these operating from the beginning of December – weather permitting!
“We hope everyone enjoys the display and has a wonderful Christmas.”
The Wellington Square tree and the trees supplied to the traders are not affected by electricity problems and will be lit at the same time, the spokesman said.