ANDOVER Town councillors have approved plans to extend the area its Christmas lights cover. 

As previously reported, councillors agreed at a meeting of the community and events committee on Wednesday, October 19, for a structural survey to go ahead to determine whether lampposts which currently aren't utilised for the festive display can be used. 

Contracting business Enerveo will undertake the survey of the remaining lampposts in the town centre and car parks.

Currently, there are 26 used for Andover Christmas Lights but during a full council meeting held on Tuesday, February 8, councillors approved plans which will see 44 additional columns used with an anticipated cost of £13,376.

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Officers will now meet with SSE operatives and walk the route to make sure that everyone is in agreement with the columns required.

Officers recommend that the one-year extension be accepted to ensure that Andover Town Council is able to provide Christmas lights provision for 2023.

All councillors in the meeting approved the plans with many noticing how important the Christmas lights are to the town.

Cllr Richard Rowles said: "I would just like to thank our officers for their hard work because this is literally the pinnacle of events in Andover despite the fact that last year we did not have any fireworks."

As previously reported, after thousands of people gathered in November for Andover's Christmas lights event in the town centre, Place Informatics revealed that there was a 122.2 per cent increase in visitors coming to the event compared to the average numbers during previous years.

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The report used activity data from phones, for the Christmas lights switch-on day and compared this to the average activity for the same day of the week in October and November providing an indication of growth in visitors due to the events.

Many of the town centre shops were decorated and stayed open while there were also several festive stalls.

The event was made possible by organisers InAndover from Andover BID along with Test Valley Borough Council and Andover Town Council.