Bridgnorth chamber withdraws Christmas lights offer

An arrangement between Bridgnorth Town Council and Bridgnorth Chamber of Commerce – which could have seen the Christmas lights put up for free – has fallen through.

The traders claim their offer, made to councillors at one of the authority's meeting, would have saved the council about £15,000 a year.

But they claim their credentials and the figures they had quoted had been questioned.

Bridgnorth mayor, Councillor David Cooper, said the council had planned to meet with chamber members at a later date and was disappointed the partnership had not worked out.

Stephen Robbins, chairman of the chamber of commerce, said: "Three of us attended a full council meeting and made a proposal, on behalf of the chamber, to maintain and erect the lights for free. All the council would have had to pay for were the costs for replacement parts and hire of equipment required to complete the work.

"We estimated the saving to the council would be about £15,000 per annum and assured councillors we had qualified professionals who could carry out the work to the required standards. This is not uncommon for voluntary groups and particularly chambers to do."

Mr Robbins said it was agreed the council would consider organising a task group to work with the chamber. But he claimed that anonymous posts were later placed on Facebook questioning the information they had presented.

"The chamber represents many local businesses and is aware of the importance of behaving professionally at all times," Mr Robbins said.

"While it had been decided organising the town's Christmas lights would help the council financially, as well as allowing it to improve the display to the benefit of the local economy, it was felt for the council to publicly discredit the offer and cast doubt on the abilities of highly qualified members, was unacceptable. The chamber was not therefore prepared to continue."

Councillor Cooper said until 2006 Bridgnorth's Christmas lights had been put up by a volunteer team adding: "A team from the chamber did address the council at its April meeting with a view to resurrecting this tradition. The next step would have been for a group of councillors to consider how to take the matter forward.

"I'm disappointed a spokesman for the chamber appears to be saying they have decided not to work with the council on this matter. But we wish them well in their other endeavours."