Following the overwhelmingly positive response in 2023, Totnes Town Council is preparing once again to light up the town for Christmas. The festive lights being organised by Totnes Town Council will be officially switched on at a free community event at the Civic Hall and Market Square on 26 November 2024. The lights that are going up this year are the same as the ones put up by the Town Council and enjoyed by so many residents and visitors in 2023:
• Trees lit up at The Rotherfold, Market Square, Shady Garden and The Plains
• A Christmas Tree in the Market Square and lighting on the Civic Hall
• The Eastgate Arch (one side)
• The illuminated cross-street ‘Welcome to Totnes’ sign at the bottom of Fore Street, which has now been fully refurbished with low energy LEDs
The Town Council won’t be putting up cross street festoon lighting due to the logistical and financial issues around making sure all the rigging points are secure enough to meet stringent insurance requirements. In 2023, and in previous years, the cross-street festoon lighting was put up by Totnes Chamber of Commerce.
Cllr Emily Price, Mayor of Totnes said: “We were thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive response we received to the Christmas lights that the Town Council bought and put up in the town last year. Despite the significant investment of £45,000 in 2023 and a further £15,000 this year to undertake necessary infrastructure work, purchase, and put up Christmas lights to welcome local people and visitors, councillors all agree that this is very important for the town. We’re committed to supporting all our businesses to thrive and making the town feel festive and fun is vital for this.
“Last year, businesses in the town also made a wonderful effort with beautiful window displays and fairy lights and I really hope many will do the same this year so the whole town has a welcoming festive glow. Once again, we have launched a competition for our businesses to find the best Christmas window, with prizes up to £100.”
The lights, additional power connections required, and other logistics will all be in place in early November and the real Christmas Tree will be delivered to the Market Square on 13 November. Apologies in advance for any inconvenience these works may cause. This year’s Totnes Christmas Lights Switch On takes place on Tuesday 26 November between 3pm-6pm in the Market Square and Civic Hall. This FREE, family-friendly, community event is organised by Totnes Town Council. There will be entertainment and children’s crafts to enjoy before the Christmas Tree lights in the Market Square are officially switched on by the Mayor of Totnes – Councillor Emily Price – at 5:30pm.
Why hasn’t Totnes Town Council put up the cross-street festoon lights?
The cross-street festoon lights in Totnes have always been put up by Totnes Chamber of Commerce. In early 2023 Totnes Chamber of Commerce informed Totnes Town Council they would not be able to put the festoon lights up for Christmas 2023 and there would be no festive street lighting for the town. At this point the Town Council agreed to take over financial responsibility for lighting the town at Christmas, acknowledging that lights at Christmas have an important positive impact for local residents and for businesses.
A safety inspection in early 2023 of the rigging points for the festoon lighting revealed that some points need to be repaired before they can be used to support electric cabling. As well as the high cost of making these essential repairs, this task is made more complicated by the restrictions on working on the listed buildings and the length of time it can take to gain these permissions. Additionally, the majority of the festoon lighting that had previously been used had also reached the end of its life and needed to be replaced. As a result, the Town Council reimagined the festive lighting up of Totnes at Christmas in a way that did not use the unsafe fixing points.