Public Displays of Christmas Lights, Yes or No?
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They have debated it on gmb and as a true Libran I can see both sides of the debate.
In this time of severe austerity should councils be wasting council tax on such things? Our town had a Halloween parade but with or without it kids would have dressed up so surely they should use the money on food banks, keeping public places warm where elderly and homeless can spend time without increasing their bills.
What do you think?
Yes I think councils should cut their costs nowadays with such high energy costs. Let’s face it most shops do a Christmas theme so it’s still going to be festive. In fact our local council use solar powered Christmas decorations.
Our council used used to have a huge fireworks display in our local park, thousands attended, they stopped doing it around 7 years ago because of cost...but they're doing it this year for the 1st time in 7 years...it baffles me as to why the council are having to cut back on things that are needed and will actually make a difference then they put on a huge fireworks display which costs millions 
they're closing off so many roads around the park (including mine) and having a big police & security presence to stop people 'sneaking' into the park without a wristband. It's just a big waste of money that could be put to good use somewhere else.
As for Xmas lights, we have a few up and around the town but since we have the treasury here now I suspect that the council are going to try and go overboard to show how 'brilliant' the town is.
PinkElephant26 gosh that does seem a bit back to front. I assume they charge for entry or they wouldn't worry about people sneaking in, maybe they think they will make money? It's hard to know the reasoning without seeing the accounts.
I don't pay attention to all these events but I expect we will have fireworks too.
Lynibis nope they've not charged anything for people to attend, you just have to have a wristband and 20,000 were available and all were sold out in 5 days! I honestly think it's madness! Not to mention the poor animals that are terrified! Our dog hates fireworks, it took us 3 hours to find her one year...she had hidden down the side of the small gap of our cooker and cupboard!!!
The lights are already mostly up and in place- but they aren’t switched on yet. They do that when the late night shopping and Christmas market starts - normally the first Thursday or Friday in December. I know a lot of the shops in the town contribute towards their adverts being placed in the booklet
I saw a few lights up on the high street the other day, they weren't lit up as we haven't had our light switch on yet. I don't mind the Christmas lights switch on, my son has never seen one before so I think he will enjoy it, plus he will get to see the Reindeer.
No to wasting money until they have the basics covered. The cost of buying, storage, erection and powering are too high for a temporary display.
I am hoping for my local council not to waste anymore of taxpayers' money on rubbish such as Christmas lights.
There is a lot of fundraising for the lights in the towns near me so they aren’t tax payer funded
I enjoy seeing the lights, there’s enough doom and gloom and miserable people about
Why not brighten up the place 
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