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The annual Christmas celebration in Wellsford will be a toned down affair this year, after the Santa parade got tangled up in the bureaucratic processes involved in securing a traffic management plan.
Organised on behalf of the community by business association Wellsford Plus, the parade is traditionally a day for families to get into the festive spirit with floats and entertainment in Station and Mathseon Roads, centred around the railway station.
Association chair Mitch Martin said the decision to cancel was ultimately made by Wellsford Plus.
“We submitted our traffic management application as we normally would,” Martin said. “But the application was denied on the grounds that we needed to address more of the ‘associated risks’ this year. We re-submitted, but with only 20 days out from the parade and still no communication from AT, we had to make the call before people started building floats for nothing. It was very disappointing.”
The parade suffered a double whammy this year – not only did AT demand a higher level of risk management, long-time parade supporter Wharehine pulled the plug as well, saying it would no longer be supporting events, Martin said.
An AT spokesperson said the application had to be assessed under new national guidelines, which had caused the delay. The change in traffic management contractors halfway through the process had also impacted response times.
“Our teams understand how important these events are to communities and we want to make them happen, but we still have to work within the rules set by government,” he said.
The alternative Wellsford Christmas event will be held in the Wellsford Community Centre on November 22 .
