Kent council axes Christmas lights due to 'challenging financial situation'

Five town centres in Kent will be without Christmas lights this year because of a “challenging financial situation”, the local council has said.

Medway Council said it made the “sad and difficult decision” not to have lights or host any switch-on events, as its forecasting budget has identified a potential overspend of £17m for this financial year.

The decision will enable the council to save £75,000, which council leader Vince Maple said will help it avoid further financial difficulties.

“I know how disappointing this will be for many families, residents and businesses, including myself, who enjoyed attending the event with my family. But the reality of the situation is that we unfortunately have no choice but to make these tough decisions,” he said.

“[It will] ensure we can continue to provide essential services that we are required to provide by law, such as social care, waste collections and housing.”

The towns of Gillingham, Rochester, Strood, Rainham and Chatham will be affected by the council’s decision, but funding will stretch for each town to receive a Christmas tree.

In Rochester, the Christmas market and the Dickensian Christmas Festival will still take place across several weekends, with the annual pantomime at The Central Theatre also going ahead in Chatham.

Mr Maple said Medway is one of the lowest funded unitary authorities in the country in terms of its population – which was put at just over 280,000 in 2019 – having had its revenue support grant cut by 91% since 2010.

A revenue support grant comes from central government and supplements local authorities’ income from local taxes.

It comes as Birmingham City council effectively declared bankruptcy after being hit with a £760m bill to settle equal pay claims.

The council said back in September it had issued a section 114 notice, confirming all new spending, with the exception of protecting vulnerable people and statutory services, must stop immediately.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council told Sky News that plans for Christmas lights in the city centre and a Christmas market are planning to go ahead as usual this year.

They said festive events are funded by a Business Improvement District (BID), where local businesses pay a mandatory levy to fund things such as marketing, promotions and events.

A similar fate also occurred in Bournemouth after the local council confirmed the £44,100 budget allocated to neighbourhoods for Christmas light and tree displays would be removed from this winter onwards.

The decision was initially made to “help support the financial position of the council”.

Days later, events company Seventa Events – which organises the area’s market, ice rink and Christmas Tree Wonderland – said the Bournemouth Town Centre BID had “rescued” the festive plans, the Bournemouth Daily Echo reported.

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