Celbridge community up in arms over Main Street Christmas lights

The Celbridge community are up in arms over a decision not to erect Christmas lights in the town this Christmastime.

According to local Labour councillor, Rupert Heather, the decision was taken by the Celbridge Christmas Lights Committee not to erect lights on Main Street, Celbridge, due to 'safety issues.'

The Leinster Leader understands that the Celbridge Christmas Lights Committee received €30,000 in LPT (Local Property Tax) funding for the purposes of installing Christmas lights in the town.

However, according to Cllr Heather, there were concerns that lights would be “dragged down” by tall vehicles, prompting the decision not to install lights running across Main Street.

It is understood that Storm Darragh also damaged lights which were erected along the side of Main Street, with volunteers from Celbridge Christmas Lights Committee, Celbridge Tidy Towns and Celbridge Men's Shed reinstating those particular lights.

Cllr Heather said: “In terms of what will happen in replacing the lights that go across, there are going to be wreaths, there's a Christmas tree with lights on it and there are going to be some icicles put up on some of the lamp-posts along the high street.

“The LPT money is being used, but they've changed the way it's going to be done this year, and there's going to be emphasis on other things apart from lights that go across Main Street.

He added: “Some people have said that this is bad, some people would appear to be disappointed, but they have to look at the genuine reason why this has occurred and they also have to factor in other things that are happening.

“So the main street will be appealing and other measures and I suppose other things will be done.

“Hopefully it won't take away from the look of the main street and we'll just have to accept that this is a decision which has been taken by the Christmas Lights Committee, nothing to do with KCC or the councillors, and the people that do the work are the ones who are most qualified to change things this year.”

Local Fine Gael councillor for Celbridge, Cllr Lumi Panaite Fahey has tabled a question for next week's meeting of Celbridge-Leixlip Municipal District committee with regard to LPT funding for Celbridge Christmas lights.

She told The Leinster Leader: “What's happening is I've put in a motion for the next council meeting, which is next Friday, to find out what's happened with the €30,000 that was allocated, where's that spent.”

Asked if the local community were disappointed with the situation regarding Christmas lights, Cllr Panaite-Fahey said: “Absolutely, it's all over Facebook. They actually created a new group, and people are trying to get back together to do other things to uplift the spirit and stuff.

“I'm not happy about it myself because we're not getting the Santa truck, and now we're not getting the lights.

“Leixlip had a really really nice day for the lights so it's quite sad to see, because the lights were very nice.

“But quite a few local businesses are getting together there and we have a local DJ that will put some music on and the local church is now involved, so we're trying to get a few things together to see what we can do.”