Yet another Christmas light switch-on party has been cancelled amid the cost of living crisis.
Nothing signifies the approach of the holidays like street illuminations, but scores of councils cannot foot the bill associated with them.
Hartlepool Borough Council was just the latest to announce it cannot justify the cost of the event.
Residents will still be able to enjoy the street lights, but an official switch-on party will not be held this year.
The decision was taken amid ‘a lack of grants and funding’, and a firework display in 2022 financed by the authority.
A statement on social media said: ‘Given the substantial financial pressures facing the council, we have made the difficult decision not to have a Christmas light switch-on event this year.
‘Our events budget is dependent on grants and although we had the firework display earlier this month, that was actually funded from one-off money in a department reserve.
‘The Christmas lights will therefore come on automatically at dusk this Friday afternoon.
‘We have over recent years sought funds wherever possible to increase the Christmas lights display across the town and we hope people will appreciate us prioritising that over a switch-on event.’
One resident wrote: ‘An utter disgrace, surely the council can fund it – I don’t understand how this happens.’
But another said: ‘To be fair, I thought it was going to say we cannot afford to switch them on at all.’
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