Belfast councillors have agreed to a return of the Christmas tree countdown and festive lights switch-on event as part of the city’s celebrations this year following a wave of criticism from the public.
Last December the council spread the city lights switch-on across the city, with music and lighting and animation at various venues. There was a stage set up on Donegall Place on the night of the switch-on, and 2 Royal Avenue became a new venue for Christmas events.
Councillors at City Hall were told by council officers the traditional Xmas tree switch-on event had been discontinued for “health and safety” reasons. While the range of activities were generally lauded by elected representatives, some questioned the dismissal of the count down and switch on, which was last performed in front of City Hall in 2018.
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A report was commissioned by elected representatives asking for officers to explain the decision to cancel the event, including health and safety advice pertinent to the decision.
The report was revealed at this week's meeting of the Belfast City Council City Growth and Regeneration Committee. It states: “Following discussion at a recent committee meeting around the nature of the opening Christmas event, council officers have sought feedback from a variety of stakeholders on the future approach.
“Translink are clear that the recent version of the Christmas event (2021 and 2022) is their preference. They stated the older format caused major disruption, particularly to the Glider services, and had health and safety concerns around pedestrian footfall, particularly after the event."
It adds: “It is a busy city centre with live traffic and heavy pedestrian footfall. This provides not only a challenging environment in which to operate but significantly increases the safety risk for staff and pedestrians, and significant resources to manage."
It states: “The city centre space on Donegall Square North is not suitable to host the build and de-rigging of a public event with live or partially live traffic. There are significant risks when live traffic mixes with staff building the event, and particularly with the heavy public pedestrian footfall in the area.
“Given the inconvenience of the structure build required, the public have been seen to take unnecessary risks in crossing the four lanes of traffic. This takes place even with a considerable stewarding presence. This is also a challenge with the de-rig.”
It adds: “Feedback from Belfast Chamber (circa 20 businesses) has indicated that retail do not necessarily view the switch on event as boosting trade, while the hospitality sector within the city have a converse opinion. Some businesses have expressed surprise that there was not a return to a normal ‘switch on’ in 2022.”
The report said in a survey 81% of visitors preferred the current event format to the traditional switch on event, while 53% of visitors said that the event improved their view of the city.
Councillors at the committee however voiced scepticism about the report. Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie proposed a return to the countdown/switch-on event in front of City Hall. He said: “We asked for a health and safety report, and there isn’t one in this as far as I can see."
He added: “I take the point about costs, and I think some of the things that have been done have been very valuable for the city, but I think there is a landing zone between the two. We don’t have to go to the big expense of Boy Bands and Girl Bands. I think we can do this within the resources of the city.
“We should invite schools, youth groups, faith groups, perhaps a competition process throughout the year. We could have multiple schools singing outside City Hall on the stage. I would like a community engagement programme in the run-up to Christmas.”
DUP Councillor Tracy Kelly agreed with the Sinn Féin position, stating: “I laughed when I saw this report, which was 14 pages long, the majority of which was telling me how great everybody thought it was last time, and how not great a traditional switch on would be.”
She added: “I actually think we should go back to the Boy Bands to bring a bit of excitement back. I went to the one in 2019, which had kids characters which was awful for me, but not if you’re three years old.”
Members asked for a further report detailing how the council would return to the switch-on event this year. The report will include a Green proposal for an environmental assessment of the old switch-on event compared to the latest programme, and Alliance proposals to make a call-out to city arts organisations and extend the scope of street lighting in future Christmas programmes.
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