Local MP criticises council decision to cancel popular Lincoln Christmas market

An MP has described city councillors as "Grinches and Scrooges" after they decided to cancel a popular Christmas market.

Lincoln councillors scrapped the 40-year-old event at at executive committee meeting last night (20 February) after saying it had "gotten way too big".

The authority voted in favour of reallocating the £260,000 budget for the Christmas market into a wider events programme throughout the year, including a new “Christmas in Lincoln” offer.

Councillors agreed with officers that the event had become too big (320,000 visitors over four days in 2022) and faced becoming “unsafe”, telling the public present that they had explored all options.

Conservative MP Karl McCartney said the market "puts Lincoln on the map".

“I don’t think 30 minutes, if that, of discussion before they voted unanimously to scrap a 40-year-old Christmas market is giving due consideration and justice to the decision that they’ve made," he said.

“Ultimately not only is it financially viable, it is also a very good window and advert and marketing for the city of Lincoln and the gateway for the rest of Lincolnshire.

“Yes, there are safety concerns and of course, nobody wants anybody to be put in any harm’s way at all. But that’s all manageable.”

He pointed to the near 4,000 signature petition to save the market organised by Lincoln business owner Rachel Whitaker, who was sat in the public gallery at the meeting.

Ms Whitaker said she felt “incredibly frustrated and bemused” by the decision.

She believes there were still more questions to be answered, including needing concrete figures on the impact of the decision.

“They just need to evolve it like loads of other cities who have done the same. They’ve made it work," she said.

“It’s a hugely popular event which delivers massive amounts of money back to the immediate and wider economy."

Retailers have previously expressed their displeasure at the plan, including café and gift shop owner Steve Smith who called it "very short-sighted" to cancel ahead of this year's event with "no notice" as he had already spent £35,000 on stock for it.

"Do they think we pull Christmas Market all of a sudden out of our back pockets? There's been no thought to the retail sector," he said.

The Conservative group on Lincoln City Council has already confirmed it will be calling-in [forcing a review of] the decision due to the "lack of public consultation" and the "way in which the decision has been made”.

Conservative group leader Cllr Tom Dyer said: “My real concern is the lack of consultation with businesses and residents, and I’m keen to challenge some of the comments made by the officers this evening in respect of the cost implications.

“There are many things that make Lincoln a special place for people to visit, but the Lincoln Christmas Market is one of the key events in the year and I’ve got real concerns that this six week event programme won’t be anywhere near as popular,” he said.

Responding to the criticism, council leader Ric Metcalfe reiterated his regret that the public hadn’t been involved with internal discussions around the market.

He said opinion on the market was “extremely divided” but that the authority had a responsibility to public safety rather than a popular vote.

Asked if he was confident the council could replace the popularity of the existing market, Cllr Metcalfe said that although it was of “intrinsic importance” there were also “a lot of fantastic assets in the city”.

“Hundreds of thousands come to visit the Cathedral, the castle, the tens of thousands we draw on Lincoln’s shopping offer," he said.

“We’ve got some great strengths we can play to, even without our traditional Christmas market, and I think we have to be as creative as we possibly can be… to come up with something that will be as beneficial in terms of visitor numbers and commercial value of attracting people to Lincoln.

"I’m confident we can do that."

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