David Ruffley MP has today welcomed the news that Bury St Edmunds will be having Christmas Lights in 2008.

At a special meeting of Bury St Edmunds Town Council last night the motion to sell the lights was officially rescinded and a new committee to run the lights was formed.

Earlier this year, David called a Christmas Lights summit meeting at which it was agreed that the Town Council would rescind its motion to sell the lights to the highest bidder if nobody came forward to take the project on.

The new 'Christmas Lights 2008 Committee' will comprise 2 members of Bury St Edmunds Town Council, 2 members of Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Management, 2 members of Bury St Edmunds Chamber of Commerce, 1 representative from Suffolk County Council, 1 member of the public and 1 retailer.

David said:

'This is fantastic news and I am glad that the summit meeting I called has had such instant and dramatic impact on the future of the Bury St Edmunds Christmas lights.

'This new committee will have complete delegated authority from the Town Council to manage the budget of the project and provide Christmas lights in 2008. This really is taking the politics out of the issue and will stop the lights being used as a political football.

'The Town Council will continue to be the single largest contributor to the project, however, funding has also been secured from St Edmundsbury Borough Council and a number of the town's County Councillors.

'Enough funding is secure to make sure the lights are put up this year, however, if businesses want to see a more impressive display, covering more of the town, they too will need to help with the funding.

'This new committee is taking much of the power out of the hands of officials and into the hands of those people with a real interest in the vibrancy of the town centre- the businesses themselves. They will face some difficult decisions but I have every confidence they will succeed.'