Harwich: row over Christmas lights 'will not happen again'

Harwich Town Council plans to set up a meeting with traders and residents to discuss options for next year, after this year’s display was branded a “waste of money”.

The display, which cost about £5,000, was put up in Dovercourt High Street by councillor Dave McLeod, Harwich Chamber of Trade and the Dovercourt Traders’ Association earlier this month, but was criticised by some councillors and shopkeepers in the town for being too expensive.

During the last Harwich Town Council meeting, Mr McLeod said he had been “surprised” and “annoyed” by the criticisms, but pledged to pay back £2,000 of the money to the council.

He said: “The whole thing has been awful, and I have lost sleep over it. I feel I have been unfairly treated because no-one knew the cost of anything, and no-one realised what was involved in just getting three strings of lights up, and because of having to get things done at very short notice the costs did change.”

Colin Crawford, chairman of the Chamber of Trade, said: “The town council were very good in awarding the £5,000 to the Christmas lights appeal, but when we came to do it we had to replace all the brackets, so we bought six lots of brackets for three rows of lights, and that will last for many years.

“That was about £1,100, and we thought it was more economical to rent the lights, which cost us about £900, plus there were a few fittings and things we needed to get, so we thought it was right to give some of the money back to the council as a matter of principle.”

The council has now decided to organise a meeting to discuss plans for next year’s display to get everyone involved in the venture.

Town councillor Steph Tyrer said: “We need to get Mr McLeod, along with all the other ward councillors in that area, to set up a meeting with traders to discuss any issues that they have over this year’s lights, and to set up a working party for next year, so we take the politics out of it and get it done nice and early, together.”