They have had to reduce their festive expenditure to plug a funding gap
The Lord Mayor Richard Kemp switched on the tree at 4.45pm on Thursday, November 21, in front of watching crowds(Image: Liverpool Echo)
With the snow falling, temperatures dropping and dark nights enveloping the city, you’d be forgiven for thinking Christmas hadn’t passed. Sadly however, we are well into January and a snowy festive season is firmly in the rear view mirror.
Twinkling lights and trees have been dismantled across Liverpool with a look ahead towards sunny days and blue skies. Like most households in the area though, there comes a price to getting up a ladder and sticking the star on the tree.
Figures released by Liverpool Council have revealed how much of taxpayers money goes on putting on displays. Decorations are usually put up in November by the local authority and remain up until January.
Every year, the Lord Mayor switches on Liverpool’s 50ft Christmas tree on Church Street – complete with 14,000 LED lights – with the that distinction most recently going to Cllr Richard Kemp, in full regalia. In 2024, the council confirmed via a Freedom of Information request it spent £34,000 to provide festive decorations to light up the city centre.
Church street Christmas tree switch on in Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
This is despite having to cut back on Christmas paraphernalia over the past few years. In a bid to plug a huge funding gap in 2023, the council proposed slashing its lights offering entirely to the tune of £80,000.
There were also proposals to turn on Christmas lights for a shorter period of time to save energy. This came amid a turbulent time for the city council coupled with the global rise in energy costs and its own shortcomings in procuring a provider.
However, the majority of the city’s decorations are provided by the Liverpool BID Company – the organisation which represents more than 800 businesses in the city centre. Since 2017 it has provided hundreds of thousands of pounds funded by BID Levy Payers and contributed over two-thirds of Liverpool’s overall Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, trees, and installations, having installed over 695 features in 2022 alone.
Among the installations provided in 2024 were giant ice sculptures carved live on Paradise Street at Liverpool ONE followed by giant illuminated penguins and choirs. The city’s popular Christmas markets also ran outside St George’s Hall from November until Christmas Eve.
Festivities had to be paused however when the region was battered by the impact of Storm Darragh.