Christmas lights already shining as temperatures hit 21C A market town has become the first in the country to put its Christmas lights up because of health and safety reasons. Volunteers began decorating the centre with plastic seasonal figures last weekend after they feared they would not finish before Christmas day. Strict health and safety regulations mean the volunteers - who can only work together on Sundays - usually takes months to finish. But the decorations went up quicker than expected and now dozens of bright tinsel ornaments and street lights are fixed to lampposts, shops and pubs. Bizarrely, the lights were finished on Sunday as the country basked in near summer temperatures of 21C. The market village of Coleford, Gloucestershire, is now believed to be the first in the country to have its lights up. Volunteer Bryan Marrot, 71, of Coleford, who helped put up the lights, said: "The lights look absolutely fantastic. "There will be plenty more decorations to go up which we will be working on the the end on November. "We need safety contracts and insurance to cover working on the ladders and using cherry picker cranes. "Doing all the safety checks take a lot of time so we start as early as possible to make sure we have them done in time. "The town council is pretty useless at this kind of thing so we do the decorations ourselves to make sure they are done." Dozens of volunteers started raising funds several years ago to provide the lights across the street, a christmas tree, plastic figures and tinsel. The lights - which cost around ÂŁ7,000 - will be turned on in December and left in place until they are taken down in January. But residents and councillors complained that the town centre had been decorated "far too early".
Angel Hotel manager Becky Borck, said: "It has gone a bit too far when even my seven-year-old son is saying the lights are too early. "Halloween and bonfire night haven't even happened yet but the Christmas lights are up - it doesn't make sense. "I understand they like to be prepared but this is erring slightly too much on the side of caution. "The lights look lovely but everybody is saying that they have been put up much too early." Conservative Coleford East councillor Denis Riley, who lives under a mile from the town centre, said: "I noticed there were suddenly loads of lights up in the town centre when I was driving through to church at the weekend "I don't like seeing christmas decorations before bonfire night but unfortunately this kind of thing happens all over the place. "There's always the risk of people becoming bored of the lights if they keep putting them up far too early like these have been. "The fact that they have been put up this early suggests to me that it has nothing to do with the true meaning of christmas and more to do with commercialism and bringing in shoppers."