Joy of Christmas

FURIOUS councillors have set up a special committee to ensure the High Wycombe Christmas lights fiasco does not happen again.

Our sister paper Midweek reported in November how things went wrong when former EastEnders actor Todd Carty, who played Mark Fowler in the BBC soap, failed to turn up to switch on the lights, blaming filming commitments.

And after the ceremony, angry residents flooded the BFP newsdesk complaining that Santa had turned up in a BMW, and that there was no Christmas music or festive atmosphere.

Council chairman Doug Anson did the honours, but even he said the event had been a fiasco.

And councillors are particularly angry that residents are blaming the district council, when the ceremony was actually run by the Town Centre Partnership.

Speaking at a meeting of the High Wycombe Committee, David Fieldhouse said the event had been appalling and the council should get someone else for the job.

Darren Hayday, Wycombe District Council’s representative on the partnership, said: “It reflects badly on us because people think we run it.”

Despite this, Shelley Ford, town centre manager, said it had been a great success.

No High Wycombe councillors could find a good word for it and Roger Colomb said the partnership should be told to make sure next year’s event met with the council’s high standards.

Clare Martens said the council should have nothing to do with the Christmas lights, or should pay to get someone else in to help.

The partnership should be pushing the town and anything to do with it.

After all it was an opportunity for traders to make some money, she added.

Peter Cartwright said Christmas was a good opportunity to show what High Wycombe had to offer, yet on this occasion the shops closed on what should have been the first night of late night shopping.

He added that the council had given the partnership a generous amount of money for promotional activities.

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