Festive Funding introduced to bring shoppers to Waverley town centres
Retailers across Waverley are preparing to welcome festive shoppers following funding from Waverley Borough Council and town councils for decorations and activities.
The funding aims to bring more shoppers to the towns, and to increase footfall in their high streets between now and Christmas.
“Waverley provided extra funding to top-up money already committed by the town councils to make their centres extra festive for visitors this Christmas,” said Councillor Liz Townsend, Waverley Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Development.
The town council is funding a Christmas Festival in Godalming on November 26 when their Christmas lights will be switched on. The money will be used for street entertainers, particularly around parts of the town centre where footfall is often lower.
On 2 December, Farncombe will have its own lights switch-on event, also with entertainment, to encourage more visitors to the area.
On 15 December when there will be late night shopping, with festive stilt walkers including a Snow Queen as part of the street entertainment, when Haslemere turn on their Christmas lights.
Waverley Borough Council is providing free parking in its Haslemere car parks from 3pm on the day. Retailers are joining in with a discount voucher scheme for shoppers and taking part in a seasonal window dressing competition.
Farnham is investing the extra Waverley funding in artistic snow windows, an initiative it began in 2021. Windows at over 20 shops and town centre businesses will be decorated with unique snowy designs created by specialist company, Snow Windows.
Last year, Farnham's window displays received over 10 million views online.
Councillor Townsend, added: “Vibrant, bustling high streets are vital for supporting our communities and our local economy. Money spent locally gets fed back into local services and local jobs for local people. From expert advice from specialist retailers to seeking out unusual or locally made goods, there are lots of reasons to shop in our local high streets. In order to keep our town and village centres full of great independents and popular chains, we need more people to experience the unique shopping experience they offer”.
The council has also announced that parking in its Farnham, Cranleigh and Godalming car parks will be free from 3pm on 1 December to encourage shoppers into local high streets.