A new Christmas lights display is coming to town.  The Council has appointed contractors who will be responsible for their installation and maintenance.  We are now at the stage to ask for donations from our wonderful businesses no matter how small. The estimated installation will be approximately £20,000 followed by an annual hire, storage and electrical testing cost. If you would like to help us reach our target, please visit our GoFundMe page:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/Buckfastleigh-Christmas-Lights.   All donations and sponsorship will be acknowledged in a prominent place.

A reminder that any problems with highways should be reported online to DCC.  Read more here.

Find out here the different ways to report crimes to Devon and Cornwall Police.

Due to the demand for the Citizens Advice Outreach Service which runs in partnership with the Foodbank at St. Luke's Church, the Friday morning video booth at the Town Hall is not being used and is therefore cancelled with immediate effect.

Buckfastleigh Town Council will however continue to fund this valuable service and the door is always open should Teignbridge Citizens Advice wish to return to the Town Hall at a later date.

A representative of Citizens Advice is available at the Foodbank every Friday from 10.00 am until noon.  To make an appointment, please telephone 01364 644485 or email: info@ buckfastleigh.foodbank.org.uk.

Advice is also available on freephone:  0808 278 7997

We received recently requests for an update on the Christmas lights display.  We hope the update below will satisfy you.  If you feel you wish to know more, we will be having a drop-in session with refreshments instead of the October Town council meeting on Wednesday 16th October from 3.00pm to 8.00pm in the Town Hall or alternatively you can always send an email to Judith our Town Clerk: clerk@buckfastleigh.gov.uk

In February 2024, the remaining Christmas lights display volunteers and members of the public met with the town council to talk about the future of Christmas lights in Buckfastleigh.

During that meeting the town council was asked to take over the management of Christmas Lights.

The Town Council had to address the following issues:

• unsafe and unsustainable electricity feed posing risks and impacting the insurance of affected residents and businesses, which they no longer wanted to support
• aged and unmaintained fixings on private buildings for lights, etc
• the need to fix, check, replace, store, install and dismantle the display each year

Between then and now the  council looked at all available options including DIY. The progress on the works was discussed at the Town Council meetings which are all open to residents to attend.

The council put forward a proposal taking into account the issues raised at the original meeting.

The proposal and the associated costs were presented and approved at the Town Council Meeting in July and is based on using reputable third party providers already managing Christmas lights in neighbouring towns.

We received donations from the public, businesses and the Buckfastleigh Town lottery for which we are grateful.

Any owners of the buildings who want to install Christmas tress to their buildings are free to do so.

A number of you asked about the 12 days of Christmas boards. Much loved, we need to remember that these boards were attached to private buildings, a lot of  which underwent restoration. Any work to display the boards would require permission from owners, new fixings and repair. Taking this into account the council decided that this will not be addressed.

October/November/December:  Monday 9am - 4pm; Tuesday-Friday 9am - 1pm  Closed from 21st December

Weekends closed.  January/February closed for annual maintenance