From personal experience of organising the village decorations with the local Business Association I can confirm the hoops the elfin safety makes you jump through are very expensive.
To erect decorations in our short high street we were required to buy £5 million worth of public liability insurance before we could even put a ladder up against a shop front. Real trees to fit over each of the 12 shops cost only £6.50 each. 12 strings of lights for them cost £750 but to hire a "County Council Approved Contractor" with cherry picker to put them up cost £1200 and the same again to take them down in January. Small wonder the traders questioned the wisdom of the idea. Oh and had we continued we would have been faced with having to buy new lights (energy saving????) this year at a cost of £7000.
We had, in previous years, had one large tree but that got vandalised every year so the idea of small trees for each shop was thought of. We have now given up on the whole thing and resorted to reusable decorations (nasty things that hang on the lamp standards) They cost £5000 per year to put up, take down and keep in good repair and are covered by the council's insurance since we gave them the contract for ten years.
