Christmas funding cuts hit Belfast plans for festive shopping season as fears voiced over city's Christmas being 'cancelled'

At a Belfast City Council committee meeting on Friday council members heard that contractors were waiting for a decision from the council on its lighting plan by the end of the day’s business. Councillors decided to hold a special meeting to discuss the budget on festive lights.

Elected representatives were recently told that the council’s “static budget” was likely to mean that the current city centre festive lighting scheme would need to be scaled back for 2023.

Councillors had asked for a report earlier this year looking into the potential for extending the lighting regime across the city, to provide festive lighting and animation on main arterial routes in the four quarters of the city.

However, John Greer, Director of Economic Development told councillors he was “the harbinger of doom” and informed them not only was there no budget to allow lighting arterial routes but the city centre lighting would see a 50 percent cut. He cited a £100,000 cut from “non-recurrent budget” and increasing contractor costs as the reasons.

During Friday’s meeting of the council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee the director presented a map showing the cuts to the lighting. He said: “Costs have gone up across the board, labour costs, insurance costs, vehicle costs and so on.

“Within our budget, approved by the council during the estimate setting process, that will mean a reduction in the Christmas lighting scheme this year.”

He added: “That would mean a number of cross-street features would be removed at the bottom of Ann Street, North Street and Gresham Street, but we will retain bespoke features at North Street, Union Street, Library Street, Wellington Street, Danske Bank, Berry Street and Bank Square.

“Pole mounted features on Rosemary Street, Lombard Street and Bridge Street, as well as Bedford Street, Dublin Road and Great Victoria Street are also unlikely to be supported.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie said: “We keep bringing up Castle Street, but it is always an area that gets left out.

“It is the gateway to West Belfast, over a third of the population enter the city centre on a pedestrian route this way, and it is again left out. So I ask we get some additional lighting put in there.

“There is a very active Castle Street traders forum, who are also very vocal, and (they are raising) an issue with Christmas lights. When the lights first came in, they only went up about a hundred yards of Castle Street.

“It was finally extended, but now they are going to be told it is going to be reversed. I expect a kickback by those traders.”

Alliance Councillor Michael Long said: “I would make a similar point about Donegall Street and the traders there. There are never many lights there, and obviously that is a gateway to the north.

“Is there no way we can look at this in terms of this year? I think we are sending out a very negative message in the city centre. Again.

“I understand there are budgetary constraints. But it looks like Belfast City Council is going to cancel Christmas.” He proposed a paper reviewing the budget.

Green Councillor Brian Smyth said: “It seems like we are saying some parts of the city are no-go. We know there are issues of how people don’t feel safe in certain places in the city centre.

“We also know there are businesses that took a hell of a risk to set up in certain areas – I’m thinking of the Sunflower a decade ago. The Deer’s Head meanwhile pays the guts of £50k a year in rates, in a part of town that has been left to rot.

“I could go on about planning decisions, but there is something in the here-and-now we need to be doing. There are constant questions about how we make the city centre more open and accessible to everyone, and this is sending a really negative message.”

No details were given of when the special meeting would be tabled, or whether it would be made public.