URGENT efforts will be made to restore electricity to Shipley’s Market Square in time for the town’s Christmas lights switch on later this month.

The switch on is due to take place on November 23, and will be the highlight of a major Christmas celebration in the town.

But after some of the illuminations were already installed in the town’s outdoor market, which will be the centre of events and home Shipley’s 20ft Christmas Tree, it emerged that the lights were not working.

Shipley Town Council, which is organising the event, discovered electricity to four of the market’s lighting columns had been switched off – as had power to a pavement socket that would have powered the Christmas Tree lights.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, it emerged the electricity was shut off in preparation for a major refurbishment of the Market Square next year.

One of the Council’s top engineers apologised for the issue, and assured councillors he would work to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Shipley Town Councillors said they had been informed of some preliminary electrical works, but were not told what these would involve, or what the consequences would be.

They argued it would be too late to find a new location for the tree, and urged the Council to restore the electrical supply.

Councillor Anna Watson (Green, Shipley) raised the issue during a discussion on the multi-million-pound market development, which will see fixed stalls replaced with a more open market square that will host pop up stalls on market days.

Chris Bedford, Principal Engineer for the Council, was presenting the item. He explained that the electricity to some of the square had been shut off ahead of the market work starting in early 2025.

He added: “I can only apologise about the street lighting. We were keen to get Northern Powergrid to get the work started. If they hadn’t done it when they did, we could have been waiting months for the work to be done.

“The fact that we’ve got it out the way is good moving forwards.”

Cllr Watson said: “We’ve got the Shipley light switch on in less than two weeks. It is a big event planned for Shipley.”

Mr Bedford said he would work to resolve the issue before then.

Funded by Shipley Town Council, the light switch on involves a day of free entertainment and activities from 12pm, with the town’s festive lights and large Christmas tree being switched on at 4.45pm.