Town Council invests £100k in new Christmas lights

"The investment of £100k over the next three years is a significant one." ---- It sure is !

When we have residents facing massive hikes in fuel costs and other cost of living increases and the poorest having their Universal Credit reduced is this really a good use of funds?

The existing lights were more than adequate---will it bring in more than an additional £100k in trade to Wilmslow? The ice cream man from Collyhurst made this comment---"Nice round 'ere,shame about your bloody roads"!!!

It would be better to spend £100k on repairing roads, and cutting back hedges that Christmas lights that are up for 3 weeks max. Stop people parking on pavements. At the playing fields there is regularly a silver VW minibus parked on the pavement blocking the drop down so wheelchair users cant go anywhere

Yet another change of Xmas lighting over the last few years at council tax payers' expense! We don't need a "vibrant new look". There was nothing wrong with the current or previous lighting. This is squandering public money and sends a terrible signal to people in severe hardship with council tax and energy prices rising rapidly. We need to use less not more energy on Xmas lights. The town council seems to think we must throw public money around the town 'to bounce back' from Covid. In fact the town has bounced back to crowded streets and roads as soon as lockdown restrictions were lifted. The rampant over- commercialisation and flashing light clap for Christmas frenzy needs to tone down not ramp up..

waste of money better to fund assistive safety technology for the over 85's now that has been removed! Forget Granny at Christmas come and create footfall

£100,000 is well spent on some new lights and if they can be made to last longer all the better. Could this money have been spent on something else? Of course it could but on what and how much difference would it make? Lets have a bright and hopefully normal Christmas and if those complaining want something else then dig into your pockets; Wilmslow and the surrounding ares are generally very well off; and donate or get involved to help!!

I agree with all above and more...
How about investing the money instead in green energy generation scheme that would in theory therefore at least power any future Xmas lights from an acceptable source. You know, the schemes we all keep HEARING and TALKING about but actually DO nothing about because we are all governed by Muppets who will come up with any number of reasons that it can't be done but are happy to spend large sums on comparatively undesirable things like these 'new' lights!
Have a look at this link:
https://www.british-hydro.org/
and scroll down to section 3 MICRO-HYDRO. or section 4 SMALL RUN-OF-RIVER HYDRO power generation systems.
We could well have at least two sites for these small systems, both on our river Bollin. One at this location near Wilmslow Park South -
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3269837,-2.2166736,286a,35y,90h/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
and the other of course near Styal Mill -
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3422449,-2.2522448,118a,35y,270h/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en
Anyone know of other locations in our area that might be acceptable too?
The [OUR] river Bollin flows rather well after heavy rain and could do well. At least check it out.
I bet there are lots of sites in the hills around Macclesfield that have a greater downhill run but that’s under the control of the Muppets in charge over there.

#Fiona McEwan

Wilmslow Town Council is NOT RESPONSIBLE for roads and hedges. This is the responsibility of Cheshire East Council. It is there for prevented by LAW to spend any money carrying out repairs on roads or cutting back hedges. If it did so then it would be breaking the law and be fined for doing so.

Christmas lights are up for longer than 3 weeks. I believe it's possibly 5 or 6 weeks.

Again Wilmslow Town Council is NOT RESPONSIBLE for parking enforcement. This is the responsibility of Cheshire East Council and Cheshire Constabulary. It is therefore prevented by LAW to spend any money on parking enforcement. If it did so then it would be breaking the law and be fined for doing so.

@David Smith well thought out , stand for the town council mate , do you know of any bi-elections soon!

David Smith, you are behind the times. Not only has there been a Hydro turbine at Styal Mill for several years now, but it is clearly visible on the Google Maps link you provided.

It is a Kaplan turbine which provides electrical power to the mill and any excess to the grid. Furthermore, it includes a fish and eel pass so these creatures can proceed around the mill dam to continue their journeys upstream to spawn.

@Stuart Redgard "change it so it is reasonable or at least has oversight, why not?"

@Vince Chadwick "and which rule book says that we can only have one?"

It is good to know that that Wilmslow Town Council has money to burn - £100.000p on Fairy Lights? I am speechless.

Thanks Vince for bringing me 'up-to-date' - I wouldn't know a Kaplan turbine if I had one for lunch!
Good to know that at least one of the sites I identified for micro-hydro power generation is already well under way and has been since 26 September 2014 and the only one in our Tatton constituency. It is a 56KW capacity DOMESTIC installation registered as NO EXPORT - so perhaps does not supply the national grid? Good old National Trust eh - leading the way round here with the only micro hydroelectric generator and by what we read in Wilmslow.co.uk also a bit of a leader in the tree planting department? How many has Cheshire east planted - anyone know?
There are only 5 hydro installations in our Cheshire East, 3 of which are DOMESTIC installations and only 2 COMMERCIAL. Full details at:
https://www.ref.org.uk/fits/search.php?tech=Hydro&la=Cheshire+East
The website lists all the hydro generation sites in the UK and not surprisingly Scotland seems to be leading the way with more mountains, rivers and lots of rain.
https://www.ref.org.uk/fits/search.php?tech=Hydro&country=Scotland
Perhaps solar panels are more our bag being further south.
Got yours yet?

what about having the money spent on solar panels and battery banks and have the existing "twinkling fairy lights all year round"?, where are the councils "Green credentials" ?

There is one matter everyone has missed, including the idiots in London, who glue themselves to the road.
This is to compulsory for all shops to keep their doors closed to save heat, which would produce more savings, and be effective in the pollution.
Peter Davenport

Quite right Peter. You are the first person to echo my thoughts.
Years ago in winter when leaving a shop I used to close the doors that were fixed open and when looking back moments later saw the shop staff open them again. All this too on a cold and miserable day with a bitter wind blowing.
I enquired of a few shop managers why they had the doors open and got various replies: "It is company policy to have the doors open to entice customers in", "We leave them open to make it easier for wheelchairs and pushchairs to come in and out." "If we leave the doors shut customers might think we are closed and not come in" - despite it being a busy Saturday morning with all the lights on inside and loads of people in the street!
To make matters worse many shops have an "air curtain" over the door that is just a heater blowing hot air downwards so as to stop the cold air coming in! I mean this has got to be a fan heater of several kilowatts rating blowing for 10 hours a day perhaps 7 days a week for many months. What do you think this adds to the electricity bill of the shop? Then we keep hearing how hard it is to cover the overheads and run a business in town, how they are all paying too much in rent and rates and many other overheads yet are quite happy to blow hot air into the street all day. On a very cold winter's day I once asked a shop manager who kept his doors open if he wouldn't mind turning the shop heating up a bit. Rather confused he asked why and I told him that it was a bit cold outside in the street and it might make the shoppers a bit warmer if he could do so. He still didn't get the message despite my touch of sarcasm.
Of course there's the other effect in summer when the shops are air-conditioned and let the cold air waft outside. It costs money to cool air as well as heat it up. In relation to air conditioning: all that happens is the heat is taken out of the air, the cold air is dispersed within the building and the heat removed released into the air outside. Wouldn’t it be better to have the heat stored in a water tank instead and used within the hot water system? Much better than using electricity to cool the air coming from the outside at the same time as using more electricity to heat water for the taps inside. I think there are now better energy management systems for premises but wonder if they are yet common enough to make a difference. All the talk about insulating houses when shops and offices are ignored is just part of the conundrum. I’ve seen all sorts of numbers for the energy used in say the USA on air conditioning - but it is a global event now and this form of energy use is increasing.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/29/the-air-conditioning-trap-how-cold-air-is-heating-the-world

You can see typical heat exchangers chucking air conditioning heat into the outside air from the roofs of buildings in central Manchester at the following link. Skyscrapers in big cities especially the USA have loads of them on the roof.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir///@53.4793568,-2.2466761,72a,36.3y,90h/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e0?hl=en

In the meantime - keep shutting shop doors when you go in and when you leave.