A popular Christmas lights display in Melbourne’s south that raises money for charity will be scrapped this year, as organisers blame excessive red tape from the local council.
The Grange Road Lights show in Sandringham attracts hundreds of people each year, with proceeds from donations going towards the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
But the organiser Michael said this year’s event would not go ahead due to the high costs of running the event, exacerbated by additional requirements from his local council.
“It’s just been a process of a lot of paperwork and permits and hard work with the council this year, to be honest,” he told ABC Melbourne radio.
“We’ve had to make the tough decision to pull the pin, hopefully just this year.”
Michael said much of the difficulty stemmed from the traffic management required around the popular event.
“Despite our best efforts, the council has been unable or unwilling to support measures that could help reduce congestion during peak nights,” the organisers said in a Facebook statement.
“Over the past two years, we’ve personally invested more than $10,000 to meet council requirements.”
The display has run for several years each Christmas, attracting hundreds each night.
Michael said while organisers and volunteers spent hours putting bollards out to manage traffic, further paperwork was required to manage the event.
“What we were trying to do, and this is as per the council’s recommendations, is to try put some restricted parking areas in,” he said.
“Unfortunately that required surveys and more paperwork, which sadly wasn’t [possible] … we just can’t proceed.”
Council blames proposed parking restrictions for cancellation
In a statement, Bayside Council’s director of environment, recreation and infrastructure Jill Colson said the council was sorry to see the event not go ahead this year.
“We too are very disappointed that the Grange Road Christmas lights have been cancelled,” she said.
Ms Colson said council had been working with the organisers for several months on traffic management to make the event happen.
“This year, the organiser also proposed changes to parking restrictions along Grange Road that required consultation with neighbours,” she said.
“The need for the plan and consultation was communicated to the organisers on multiple occasions over an extended period of time however they have chosen not to supply necessary information to allow this to occur.”
Ms Colson said the council had been supportive of the event and would continue to provide assistance to the organisers where required.
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