Rift over Christmas lights in North Somerset town
Traders are calling for a more joined up approach for Clevedon
Last updated 12th Dec 2024
The Christmas lights in a North Somerset town have triggered a rift between its two shopping areas.
In Clevedon, lights have illuminated the town’s iconic pier, and a spectacular display has lit up Alexandra Gardens and the area around Hill Road. But the town centre about half a mile away has been left with a display one shopkeeper called “woeful.”
Lights provided by Clevedon Town Council have seen the clock tower on the Triangle lit up, and some lights hung along the surrounding streets — but many of these are not working. Daniel Adams of Stationary House on the Triangle said: “Clevedon is literally in Christmas blackout.”
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It has been a major disappointment to businesses and residents alike that Clevedon town centre has been left with a woeful display of Christmas lights, no switch on event and no Christmas markets this year.
“We are extremely grateful to Clevedon Town Council for putting up their lights again given the extremely limited funds they have available. Sadly however, given their age, many aren’t working and as such the end result is a little embarrassing compared to what other local towns in North Somerset have organised.”
While the town centre only has the council lights, Clevedon Business Improvement District (BID) provided the volunteer Clevedon Community Lights Group with £15,000 for the lights on Clevedon Pier and the area around Hill Road and Alexandra Gardens. This has reignited tension over the BID, which was only narrowly reapproved in 2023 and has been hugely divisive among businesses in the town. It puts a levy on all businesses in the district which includes both the Hill Road area and the town centre, but some businesses have said they see little return for the money.
Mr Adams said: “Businesses of the town centre are extremely aggrieved that having paid Clevedon BID thousands of pounds since August 2023 and having had the time to organise proper lights and a switch on it has failed to do so. This despite their business plan promising Christmas lights and Christmas markets.”
But the BID defended the move — pointing out that the town centre was the only area with Christmas lights provided by the council. A spokesperson for the BID said: “Clevedon town council has for many years provided the Christmas lights in the town centre and organised an event to mark the switch on. Post lockdown, the newly formed Clevedon Community Lights group has worked to extend the Christmas lights right across our town.”
They added: “In 2023, their activities were funded by both the BID and the town council — but this year the town council decided not to provide any support for the community group and fund only the traditional town centre lights.”
The Clevedon Community Lights Group said that it had asked the town council for £15,000 in April and the council had declined, stating it would only be putting up the town centre lights, which already cost it £13,000.
Chair of the town council, Chris Blades told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the council had thought the funding the council had given the group last year was for it to take on the running of the lights completely. He said: “We’re raising that issue and hopefully we’ll do something next year.”
The Clevedon Community Lights Group said that it had also asked the BID for £20,000 in funding but was given £15,000. The group said the BID had claimed that the payment protest — where businesses who were opposed to the BID had refused to pay the levy — had reduced its funds.
The group said it wrote to traders in October warning it was “not viable” to put on Christmas lights this year, and asking them to submit applications for the group to partly fund their Christmas lights. The spokesperson for the BID said: “Two funding applications were made to the BID, one from the HAB (Hill Road, Alexandra Road, Bellevue Road) traders group and one from the pier.
“The BID was pleased to approve both funding requests in full and congratulates the fantastic hard work put in by all those involved in lighting up Clevedon.”
The chair of Clevedon BID, Tom Vaughn, is a director of Clevedon Pier but the BID said he withdrew from the discussion and played no part in the decision making process on the applications to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
But in the town centre, Mr Adams said that it was part of the BID’s business plan to deliver Christmas lights in all parts of the town. He said: “The BID are basically saying that town centre traders should be applying for their own money back to fund Christmas Lights and then organise it for themselves. That makes the point of the BID totally pointless!”
Despite the controversy, the spokesperson for the BID insisted: “The BID is committed to working with traders in the town centre and the town council to ensure a bigger and better event is in place for Christmas 2025.”