Make the trading day longer in Cleveleys – we want to Light up Cleveleys with Festoons!

You will know that Cleveleys Coastal Community Team has been working hard for the last 18 months to make our town inviting and a destination which shoppers want to visit.

We’re working hard to keep our town vibrant and viable for the future. We want Cleveleys to be a special seaside town that people love to visit. The first place people think of for a shopping trip or a day out.

The CCT wants to help you to be profitable and one of the ways we think that could be achieved is by bringing people into town at tea time.

We think that people could be encouraged to call in at Cleveleys on their way home from work, for a spot of shopping, a drink or a snack with friends or a treat for the kids after school. To change their routine they need an incentive, a reason to come here. They want a good, enjoyable experience when they are here.

Our proposal is to make the town centre brighter and more attractive with white festoon lighting across the highway, similar to the lights used throughout Blackpool. In place for a 3 year term it could be lit for several hours each day during the miserable, winter weather. Bulbs could be on in the afternoon, morning and even through the day.

This also takes care of the dreariness of our central high street in December and goes a long way to brightening up the festive season. It would also be possible to change the white lamps for coloured ones for Christmas if the community so wishes (and funding can be raised).

Wyre Council has just announced changes to parking charges, but we would like to give shoppers an extra incentive to visit in the form of a special parking offer. Plus food and drink offers from cafes and restaurants.

Availability of a parking offer is to be agreed. It may be on particular days, free or discounted.

It would be amazing if each cafe, pub etc in Cleveleys participated with their own individual offer. People could then work their way around each one in rotation to sample everyone's wares!

There's no reason why all other retailers shouldn't join in with the scheme, by offering free samples, taste testing, discounts, whatever. Anything you want to do to attract customers to both the town and your own store.

The project has been costed by Blackpool Illuminations. Supply, installation and a 3 year term will cost approx £6250 including Public Liability insurance and dismantling at the end of 3 years. After 3 years they must be taken down, checked and assessed for safety reasons, at which point, subject to funding, it could also be reinstalled.

Cleveleys Coastal Community Team can provide 50% of this funding with the remaining £3125 being raised by the community.

This will cover a stretch of zig zag festoons, in a Z shape over the road, from the clock at Nutter Road/the Regal to the alley at New Look/Halifax (approx).

Clearly there is more to the town centre than this central part and it would be amazing to be able to install additional sections. For example at the other side of the tram lines, near to the sea and outside Poundland. We'll leave it to you to work out where the funds might come from! It's likely that there may be some reduction in price if extra funding could be raised to install lights in additional areas at the same time.

The effect could be supplemented with minimal cost and effort at Christmas if, for example, individual shops installed their own icicle style fairy lights at their own properties. We will be working with the Christmas Cheer in Cleveleys group to make the town sparkle!

Lancashire County Council has made it clear that additional lights cannot be fastened onto their street lights, so the festoons would be fastened onto properties with eyebolts. This is subject to agreement/permission from the building owners. Electricity would be picked up from a lighting column (again, subject to agreement with LCC although this is how the illuminations team usually install them). Unless, of course, any shops/landlords would like to donate an electricity supply. The festoon lamps are LED and cost very little to run.

Ideally we would like to get the lights up by the end of September, ready for autumn. The parking/food offers can be launched as soon as confirmed by traders and by Wyre Council.

Get in Touch

If you would like to support this initiative to make Cleveleys busy at teatime, please get in touch to indicate what you would like to do.

• We need cash/cheque donations, grant funding if you have access to any, etc.

• We need to know who is prepared to provide offers and what those offers are.

• Consent will be required from the owners of the relevant buildings, to attach an eyebolt to the exterior of their building. (Which will be checked for soundness at the time of installation by a structural engineer).

This scheme will be promoted widely, to residents of the Fylde Coast and further afield, through Visit Cleveleys and of course all the usual other media outlets (newspapers, radio, TV etc.)

Will you help to make this project a reality?

Contact Jane Littlewood on 07932 143431 or email jane@theRabbitPatch.co.uk

There's more information at this link https://www.visitcleveleys.co.uk/community/care-for-cleveleys/festoon-lights-for-cleveleys/https://www.visitcleveleys.co.uk/community/care-for-cleveleys/festoon-lights-for-cleveleys/