Christmas light show suspended over crowd safety fears

By Cate McCurry, PA

A Christmas light show has been suspended in Lisburn after it attracted large crowds over recent days.

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council said it made the decision after a “significant increase” in the number of people visiting the area.

The decision to hold this year’s Lisburn Light Festival was backed by the council in October.

The lights festival costs £535,000 and has been running for the last two years.

In a statement, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council said: “Due to the popularity of the light animations in Lisburn, we have been closely monitoring the situation in recent days.

“We implemented additional measures over the weekend to ensure that people could enjoy the animations safely.

“However, we have noted a significant increase in the number of people in the city today (Saturday December 5) to view the lights.

“As a result, we have decided to suspend the animations until further notice.

“The lights will remain on, but the animated displays will not be operating at the scheduled times.

“In addition, the lights in the tunnel will be temporarily turned off.

“We apologise to those who were looking forward to viewing the animations over the coming week.

“However, this decision has been taken with the health and safety of everyone visiting our city in mind.

“We will be reviewing the situation very carefully and will provide an update in due course.”

Green party councillor Si Lee tweeted: “Just heard from the chief executive that the council have had to take the decision to suspend the light show in Lisburn because of safety concerns because of the numbers gathering to watch the light show, and pose for selfies in the light tunnel.”