Christmas Decs

I always remember the house on Mandale Road that had the decorations on the outside. In the 80's they looks amazing but I guess nowadays it would just look normal.
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
Or possibly someone who can not afford to put their own lights and tree up can still find joy in a communal display or festive spirit?

We can afford to subsidise MP's lunch, heating bills etc, then we can afford to put up a tree and some lights.
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I can’t see how any council can justify spending thousands on unnecessary things like Christmas lights when they have had to cut almost every service to the bone whilst increasing council tax year on year. Surely far better uses of money in the current climate
 
JM14 said:
I can’t see how any council can justify spending thousands on unnecessary things like Christmas lights when they have had to cut almost every service to the bone whilst increasing council tax year on year. Surely far better uses of money in the current climate
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Perhaps, but why have they had to cut every service - that's as a result of central government defunding whilst they continue to spunk money up the wall.

My point was more that the poster I was responding to, who claimed that " if they condone all this excess please don't whinge at me that you cannot afford food or heating" suggesting that people who are sturuggling shouldn't even try to find joy where they can at Christmas time through a few lights and a communal tree.
 
JM14 said:
I can’t see how any council can justify spending thousands on unnecessary things like Christmas lights when they have had to cut almost every service to the bone whilst increasing council tax year on year. Surely far better uses of money in the current climate
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Christmas light switch ons generate money for the economy as they're an event, which kids love. Most Christmas lights these days are LED which don't cost a lot to run. Keeps council workers in the job as well. Looking at foi requests the city of Lincoln spent £30k a year or so on electricity so that will have gone up, but that's a city and the lights cost about £80k to buy with a lifespan of about ten years or so. This is a drop in the ocean to council budgets and not worth stopping - your council tax wouldn't go down by a penny as that's all swallowed up by adult social care and government reducing council funding formula

Fireworks cancelled in Stockton this year - town will have felt the impact of that as usually really busy at bars and restaurants - we still went to Borge as us tradition and was only a few others in there - usually booked out.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
Christmas light switch ons generate money for the economy as they're an event, which kids love. Most Christmas lights these days are LED which don't cost a lot to run. Keeps council workers in the job as well. Looking at foi requests the city of Lincoln spent £30k a year or so on electricity so that will have gone up, but that's a city and the lights cost about £80k to buy with a lifespan of about ten years or so. This is a drop in the ocean to council budgets and not worth stopping - your council tax wouldn't go down by a penny as that's all swallowed up by adult social care and government reducing council funding formula

Fireworks cancelled in Stockton this year - town will have felt the impact of that as usually really busy at bars and restaurants - we still went to Borge as us tradition and was only a few others in there - usually booked out.
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I kind of get it for a big town as in it brings visitors to the area but decorations and lights in every town and village across the county seems very excessive, it’s not so much about council tax going up or down because of this, but more councils are facing huge pressures, vital services are being cut back as far as they can possibly go, but tens of thousands are still spent on fireworks/Christmas lights which aren’t really needed in every village

I would rather my council prioritised the essentials before anything extra
 
JM14 said:
I kind of get it for a big town as in it brings visitors to the area but decorations and lights in every town and village across the county seems very excessive, it’s not so much about council tax going up or down because of this, but more councils are facing huge pressures, vital services are being cut back as far as they can possibly go, but tens of thousands are still spent on fireworks/Christmas lights which aren’t really needed in every village

I would rather my council prioritised the essentials before anything extra
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Vital services tend to be in the millions of pounds and saving £30k-50k as a one off (unless you expect them to cancel Christmas?) is literally an accounting insingficance that would not protect any vital service and would be at the cost of removing something that makes people happy.

Yes they have to make cuts but energy for Christmas lights costs so little in the grand scheme of things that it's not worth the effort to not do them as the savings are so meagre, they'll have people on their back over it and it won't fund anything of consequence

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£200m spent in 21/22 financial year, £3.4m over budget mostly due to children's services. Even at 100k a year it would be a fraction of overall spending. If they didn't do it they still have to maintain the lights, still pay the staffs wages who would put them up and repair them and take them down, or make them redundant due to less work in the department which has its own costs

Lot of local town/villages have their own lights paid for via precepts so covered in existing funding designed to do things for the town, rather than via the main council.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
Vital services tend to be in the millions of pounds and saving £30k-50k as a one off (unless you expect them to cancel Christmas?) is literally an accounting insingficance that would not protect any vital service and would be at the cost of removing something that makes people happy.

Yes they have to make cuts but energy for Christmas lights costs so little in the grand scheme of things that it's not worth the effort to not do them as the savings are so meagre, they'll have people on their back over it and it won't fund anything of consequence

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£200m spent in 21/22 financial year, £3.4m over budget mostly due to children's services. Even at 100k a year it would be a fraction of overall spending. If they didn't do it they still have to maintain the lights, still pay the staffs wages who would put them up and repair them and take them down, or make them redundant due to less work in the department which has its own costs

Lot of local town/villages have their own lights paid for via precepts so covered in existing funding designed to do things for the town, rather than via the main council.
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I get it’s a small amount compared to the full budget but the cost of every town and village in a council area will surely be far higher than that figure, it doesn’t seem like much information is available on the exact amounts though.
Personally when most councils are at the point of begging central government for more money, spending anything on unnecessary things like this just doesn’t seem logical at all to me
 
JM14 said:
I get it’s a small amount compared to the full budget but the cost of every town and village in a council area will surely be far higher than that figure, it doesn’t seem like much information is available on the exact amounts though.
Personally when most councils are at the point of begging central government for more money, spending anything on unnecessary things like this just doesn’t seem logical at all to me
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You're talking about stopping something basic that people expect and something that thousands of people enjoy which lasts for over a month for something that would disappear faster than a gnats fart if applied to any "needy" budget. So we have a grim December with a bleak town centre and get laughed at by media for not affording Christmas lights but someone in procurement orders that new batch of staplers with the saved money? And it wouldn't even save the full money because like i said they will still have people on the books for their installation, maintenance and removal.

People pay council tax to have these services provided, that doesn't just mean having roads cleaned or grass cut, but means providing entertainment to give them something they can enjoy for their money.

The idea of not putting Christmas lights up to give children's services £44.3m instead of £44.2m is frankly bizarre. If children's services needs £44.3m they will get it.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
You're talking about stopping something basic that people expect and something that thousands of people enjoy which lasts for over a month for something that would disappear faster than a gnats fart if applied to any "needy" budget. So we have a grim December with a bleak town centre and get laughed at by media for not affording Christmas lights but someone in procurement orders that new batch of staplers with the saved money? And it wouldn't even save the full money because like i said they will still have people on the books for their installation, maintenance and removal.

People pay council tax to have these services provided, that doesn't just mean having roads cleaned or grass cut, but means providing entertainment to give them something they can enjoy for their money.

The idea of not putting Christmas lights up to give children's services £44.3m instead of £44.2m is frankly bizarre. If children's services needs £44.3m they will get it.
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But the point of efficiency savings is to cut the unnecessary spending, I doubt they will be able to slice millions off spending in one go so whilst a few hundred thousand might not seem much it’s probably necessary in this climate.
Durham council has a 15 million overspend despite cutting back almost every service they have, do I want to see them waste hundreds of thousands every year on pretty Christmas lights or firework displays? Of course not. It’s not a massive issue if they don’t bother renewing them but cutting other essential services could end up having a huge impact on people

It’s probably in the bottom 1% of things councils should be considering spending money on while so many are living in poverty

When the country is being asked to reduce its energy usage I don’t think having town centres lit up 16 hours a day is very good either
 
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JM14 said:
But the point of efficiency savings is to cut the unnecessary spending, I doubt they will be able to slice millions off spending in one go so whilst a few hundred thousand might not seem much it’s probably necessary in this climate.
Durham council has a 15 million overspend despite cutting back almost every service they have, do I want to see them waste hundreds of thousands every year on pretty Christmas lights or firework displays? Of course not. It’s not a massive issue if they don’t bother renewing them but cutting other essential services could end up having a huge impact on people

It’s probably in the bottom 1% of things councils should be considering spending money on while so many are living in poverty

When the country is being asked to reduce its energy usage I don’t think having town centres lit up 16 hours a day is very good either
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Is it unnecessary if thousands enjoy it? It's providing some value for money for concur tax and for that spend it lasts 1/12th of the year. They're not spending hundreds of thousands on it.

Fireworks displays are a net contributor to the economy.
 
American towns/cities generally put up their decoration to coincide with Thanksgiving, so perhaps it's the Americanisation of the British public that we're seeing.
 
the_holgate_roof said:
Saw my first Christmas decorations up today in a house the next street down from us, it is only 10th Nov, what is wrong with people, why can’t people wait for anything these days….
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They have been up in my gym about a week! I’ve seen a few houses also!
 
I don't get the attitude of some people. Why do people care if someone puts up the Christmas decorations? It doesn't affect you, so don't worry about it.

Ours are up now, they look great, they offer some cheer in the crappy times we are living through.

Besides, they take loads of effort, might as well get longer enjoyment from them.
 
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