Is It Time To Pull The Plug On Annual Illuminations In Blackpool?

Op-Ed Contributor

by Greg Smith

(WireNews+Co) - Blackpool, England - 06 September 2012

Today, I received a letter (http://www.wirenews.co/pdf/illuminations_letter.pdf) from "Blackpool Illuminations - Lightworks". Perhaps you did as well.

According to the un-signed letter from Richard A. Ryan, who calls himself "Head of Illuminations", the annual cost of more than £2.3 million spent each year to stage the Illuminations (lights along the Promenade for those of you who have not yet visited Blackpool) generate more than £260 million to the local economy.

That figure is highly suspect and it's unlikely that the revenue claimed is the result of just the Illuminations—I'm sure people come to Blackpool for more than just to witness the lights... at least I hope so.

Anyway, the letter—effectively a begging letter—seeks donations to continue the annual event that this year will run for 66 days from 31 August to 4 November, and it reports that the Illuminations attract over 3 million visitors each year.

I'm not sure how you can determine that claim since it's hard to avoid the lights unless you simply stay off the Promenade and so it is quite unlikely that 3 million people come to Blackpool just to see the lights, but it reads well for Ryan's letter and so be it.

Ryan also writes that cash collections along the Promenade have netted a steady £140,000 "for the last few years" towards the annual costs. On the other hand, just £23,500 was collected from local Blackpool business operators in 2011. It's unclear whether the £140,000 is annually collected or represents a total amount collected over the "last few years" as it appears that the Head of Illuminations is no wordsmith, but when I spoke to a member of Ryan's staff that person claimed that an amount of just £125,000 was collected in cash along the Promenade (last year) so it's all a bit vague.

Assuming we use Ryan's higher figure and assuming we take that as an annual amount it means that the lights that cost taxpayers more than £2.3 million each year generated donations of just £163,500—not a very good indication of people's willingness to support the very thing that we're told they came to witness.

Now, I'm no Vanderbilt, but it seems to me that if the project loses £2,136,500 per year; money that the Council is making up and taxpayers are making good and the local businesses don't want to contribute to the fund, then, someone should pull the plug—literally.

Blackpool now boasts a rain soaked music venue, a couple reeds of grass-cum-art (or is it art-cum grass?) and the Pièce de résistance, the Illuminations.

Well, at least we've got that going for us even if no one wants to support it and it loses money hand over fist. I for one believe the Illuminations are passé, a complete waste of taxpayer's money and something that should be stopped.