Headington miss out on festive lights because of the wrong lampposts (From Oxford Mail)
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Headington miss out on festive lights because of the wrong lampposts
10:00am Tuesday 7th December 2010 in News By Rhianne Pope
Neil Holdstock (Absolute Event Solutions), Garry McGill (Fusion salon) and James Donigan (Andrews) with some of the Christmas lights that should be up in Headington, but the new lamp-posts don’t have the brackets required to fit them
LONDON Road will not be lit up with festive lights this year because of the wrong type of lamp-post!
As towns and villages around Oxfordshire switch on their festive lights this week, Headington will not be joining them.
And business owners have blamed the recent roadworks.
Gary McGill, manager of Fusion Hairdressers, said: “The council took the lamp-posts down while all the work to London Road was being done, and now they have put them back up without the correct brackets.
“So, this year, there will be no Christmas lights in Headington.
“I think it is appalling. It is a bit of a shambles really. The roadworks caused so much disruption in the last six months and now it’s finished and looking nice, there is not going to be any sort of festive decoration. It is such a shame.”
Neil Holdstock, manager of Absolute Event Solutions and member of the Headington Business group, said: “The lights are owned by the businesses of Headington.
“They were bought many years ago and, as a general rule, someone from the businesses goes round each year and collects money to fund them being put up.”
Mr Holdstock said there were two reasons the same had not happened this year.
He said: “The first is that everyone, all the business owners, have become very disillusioned by everything in Headington, so no one has collected the money.
“But that decision was also taken on the basis that the county council, which did the roadworks, did not put back the light fittings.”
Mr Holdstock said he had an email from the council saying it would definitely be replacing the brackets, but this had not yet been done. He said: “It is very disappointing, but bureaucracy has got in the way.”
Owen Morton, a spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council, said: “The county council is not responsible for arranging Christmas lights for Headington.”
But Mr Holdstock was keen to say that festive spirit was not lacking in Headington.
Shopkeepers are being encouraged to make the most of their window space and Jill Cummings, the former owner of Time and Elegance Jewellers, organised a tree, sponsored by Andrews Estate Agents.
Louisa Dean, a spokesman for Oxford City Council, said: “We have been working closely with Headington Action and local businesses on the Christmas event for Headington this year.
“The group agreed that for this year there would be a small scale Christmas event focusing on the Christmas tree and lights, and possibly carol singing.”
On Saturday, there will be a tree and lights outside Barclays bank in London Road, with carol singing from the Baptist Church members and refreshments from Waitrose.
Comments(20)
Gareth Keenan
says...
10:25am Tue 7 Dec 10
Surely if they'd put their hands in their pockets or dusted off the cobwebs from their bulging wallets then they could have found a few quid to sort out some sort of festive celebration?
And another thing, Headington doesn't exactly spring to mind when you're thinking about Christmas shopping - far better going to the big supermarkets and superstores, where you get good quality products and produce at low prices, all done with staff wearing smiles and Santa hats....
It's time that local traders stood up and realised that there's no point in complaining. Like life in general, it's what you make of it.
Mr E Mann
says...
11:15am Tue 7 Dec 10
Err..no.. That was last Saturday!
Joe Cooke
says...
11:34am Tue 7 Dec 10
neliboy
says...
11:51am Tue 7 Dec 10
What was the point in them collecting cash to put the lights up, if there wasn't any way of attaching them to the lamp posts?!?!
As for bulging wallets.... you are joking right?
Howard-3
says...
12:39pm Tue 7 Dec 10
By the way, with nowhere to park on the street for a 5 minutes dash into a shop - unless you are a blue badge holder or mototcycle - I find the redevelopment has hit passing trade.
Brian Two-pence
says...
1:25pm Tue 7 Dec 10
What you do need is the collective will to make it happen.
Peterr Mcvey
says...
1:40pm Tue 7 Dec 10
Howard-3 wrote:Nail on the head mate. Nowhere to even stop for a minute, goodbye passing trade.
does this mean the hanging baskets next summer are also unfixable? By the way, with nowhere to park on the street for a 5 minutes dash into a shop - unless you are a blue badge holder or mototcycle - I find the redevelopment has hit passing trade.
Dilligaf2010
says...
2:52pm Tue 7 Dec 10
If they have to use a cherry-picker due to the namby-pamby health & safety laws, they can attach the brackets at the same time as hanging the lights.
It appears to me that some of these business owners have business sense, but no common sense, it's not rocket science, don't blame the council, just pull your collective fingers out and get it done.
neliboy
says...
4:42pm Tue 7 Dec 10
With the councils implicated intention to put the parking charges up in the local car park along with this current lack of short-term street parking, passing trade is going to be a thing of the past come January.
I wouldn't want to own a retail business in Headington, but after all, they have "bulging pockets" according to one comment above, so these issues won't matter.......
Marina Morris
says...
7:48pm Tue 7 Dec 10
mandate
says...
9:57pm Tue 7 Dec 10
Marina Morris wrote:Well said Marina!!
Oh for crying out loud, what does it matter? Grown men moaning about no Xmas lights! What's the point of Xmas lights, what purpose do they serve? Do you really think they'll make people spend more money?
Peterr Mcvey
says...
3:06am Wed 8 Dec 10
Marina Morris wrote:No, but they give people a good feeling, and are very decorative. But I bet you would prefer shuttered up shops in a pitch black street wouldn't you.
Oh for crying out loud, what does it matter? Grown men moaning about no Xmas lights! What's the point of Xmas lights, what purpose do they serve? Do you really think they'll make people spend more money?
Cathena
says...
10:11am Wed 8 Dec 10
Gareth Keenan
says...
10:41am Wed 8 Dec 10
It's always somebody else's fault isn't it, when something that's happens for years doesn't happen? Instead of moaning why not get on and do something about it?
It's amazing that people complain about councils doing things yet when something doesn't happen then they seem to whinge that a service isn't being delivered anymore.
We all know that traders have bulging pockets, well, those that know their market and are able to be successful by offering products or services that people want and they are able to make a profit from. Look at Tesco - the top dogs there are raking it in.
sparky123456
says...
2:10pm Wed 8 Dec 10
Gareth Keenan wrote:Gareth both of your posts are ridiculous and ill founded. Why decorate the London Road... because it's probably THE major road route in to the City, it carries cash spending visitors on the OT and X90 in to the city every 15 minutes. It's also the main route from the M40, what kind of impression does it give of the city if it's run down? As for shops in the area, some are exceptional businesses. Great hairdressers such as Fusion, speciality food stores like Jacobs & Field, Waitrose, independant traders such as Frog Orange, Annie Sloane as well as gift shops such as the florist and the chocolatier. Are you suggesting we no longer support their business and we all go to Tesco? I know these traders don't have bulging pockets because the works the council did seriously affected their passing trade during the 6 months of roadworks and if everyone had an attitude like yours theyd have no trade as we'd all be mindless drones buying Tesco value turkeys this season. As for decorating their windows, that's an even more idiotic concept. How do they advertise their festive offerings if their windows are chock full of plastic santas and fairy lights? and as for getting on a doing something about it... do you now expect them to pay for brackets (which the council obviously already has as they were attached to the old lamposts) or are you suggesting they scale the lamposts and affix their own decorations?!
Shouldn't traders be a bit more innovative here? Instead of Christmas lights hanging from lamposts, why don't they individually decorate their shop windows, using the money that they ploughed into the annual whip-round? It's always somebody else's fault isn't it, when something that's happens for years doesn't happen? Instead of moaning why not get on and do something about it? It's amazing that people complain about councils doing things yet when something doesn't happen then they seem to whinge that a service isn't being delivered anymore. We all know that traders have bulging pockets, well, those that know their market and are able to be successful by offering products or services that people want and they are able to make a profit from. Look at Tesco - the top dogs there are raking it in.
sparky123456
says...
2:13pm Wed 8 Dec 10
Dilligaf2010 wrote:I dare you to rock up with heavy plant machinery and start attaching things to council property without the correct H&S approved fittings and some piece of paper saying you can do it. You'd probably have the anti-terror branch of the flying squad turn up!
So are the businesses in Headington saying there's nobody that runs a hardware store, or owns a ladder? If they have to use a cherry-picker due to the namby-pamby health & safety laws, they can attach the brackets at the same time as hanging the lights. It appears to me that some of these business owners have business sense, but no common sense, it's not rocket science, don't blame the council, just pull your collective fingers out and get it done.
mandate
says...
6:39pm Wed 8 Dec 10
As for the council...well that's another story.
Mr E Mann
says...
10:27am Thu 9 Dec 10
SNJ
says...
1:48pm Fri 10 Dec 10
The council is very strict about Christmas lights ever since a heavy string of them fell on someone's head in Queen Street a few years ago. Home-made efforts wouldn't be safe enough. The businesses already supply the lights out of their (fairly flat these days) pockets, but the county council has let them down.
Brian Two-pence says...
10:17am Tue 7 Dec 10
“They were bought many years ago and, as a general rule, someone from the businesses goes round each year and collects money to fund them being put up.”
"All the business owners, have become very disillusioned by everything in Headington, so no one has collected the money."
Definitely the brackets then...