Shock plans to remove Burnham-On-Sea’s decorative seafront lights and sell them as part of a money-saving initiative were debated by town councillors on Tuesday evening (November 24th).
Ten of the 40 lights along The Esplanade are currently not working, and the cash-strapped town council has baulked at the high cost of repairing them.
In a surprise move, councillors went one step further and discussed removing them and selling them after it emerged that a further £3,000 will be needed in next year’s budget towards the costs of maintaining them.
Cllr Eric Gill, Chairman of the Town Improvements Committee, said: “There are two options – we either continue the lights as they are or dispense of them entirely and use the money elsewhere.”
Cllr Neville Jones conceded: “Times are tough and we may sadly have to remove them given that income is falling.”
Councillors also considered placing the lights into store until financial conditions improve. “By taking them down and getting them into safe storage, we might retain them for the future and hope for better times ahead,” added Cllr Gill.
Town Clerk Eileen Shaw explained that the budget for the lights during 2009/10 had already been spent on testing their columns to gain a three-year safety certificate.
This means that no budget will be needed for column testing next financial year and members were told they could put the allocated £5,000 into next year’s budget instead towards the cost of replacing the lights.
But councillors were also told they would need to put the same amount in the budget for 2011/2012 to have a minimum of £10,000 in place to replace all of the lights during that financial year.
The Clerk added that early feedback from a public questionnaire regarding council spending in Burnham showed there is little support from residents for financing the seafront illuminations.
“The lights don’t rate highly on the public’s spending priorities,” she said. However, residents still have until December 11th to send in their entries to the questionnaire.
The council decided not to spend further money on repairing the lights, but deferred a final decision about their future.
