Published: December 11, 2012
Safety fears halt plans for decorative lights on Burnham seafront

Proposals to introduce colourful new decorative lights along Burnham's seafront have been scrapped amid concerns from the harbourmaster that they would cause confusion for boat users, it emerged last night.

A trial of the lights was set to go ahead, but a Town Council meeting on Monday night (December 10th) was told that Bridgwater Bay's habourmaster has said the lights "could cause confusion" since some of the lights would be the same colour as warning buoys.

Town Clerk Eileen Shaw told the meeting: "Sedgemoor District Council is not prepared to give the trial the go-ahead because of the concerns. The lights might be confusing for shipping and even lead to ships running aground."

Burnham-On-Sea.com reported here that resident Nick Whetstone had proposed that the town's current aging decorative illuminations be replaced by multi-coloured low-cost LED lights.

One of the councillors who has backed the scheme, Cllr Helen Groves, told Burnham-On-Sea.com after Monday's meeting: "This is a real shame and very disappointing. Safety is important, but I don't feel Sedgemoor has looked into this fully and assessed the legal requirements. Similar lights are already in place in Aberdeen's harbour."

The bulbs inside the lamps would have been replaced with coloured LED units, as pictured, and it was claimed that these would have cut the council's electricity bill by up to 85%.

Meanwhile, town councillors are to undertake further investigations to look at other options for the seafront lights.