One of the most popular family events of the year, the Douglas Christmas lights switch-on, may be cancelled this year.

Members of Douglas Council were this week told that the government’s Event Safety Advisory Group, which oversees public events such as the switch-on, has indicated it would not support a repeat of the 2018 event in front of the town hall.

Councillor Carol Malarkey told members that the switch-on event had become a ’victim of its own tremendous success’.

The council’s agenda for the January meeting states that an internal debrief had taken place following last year’s event and the council had a meeting with the ESAG.

At that meeting, the ESAG indicated firm opposition to the event being repeated in Ridgeway Street in 2019, ’based on the level of congestion both inside and outside of the event area’.

The vice-chairman of the regeneration and community committee, which organises the Christmas switch-on, Councillor Debbie Pitts, said it was unfortunate and criticised the ESAG. She said: ’We probably have come to the end of the life of the event. We have done everything that has been asked of us but we’re on a hiding to nothing.

’Whatever we try, we’re told we’re wrong. There will be people who are very disappointed, including me, if the committee can’t find another place, but we will keep trying.’

The idea of a different location was suggested. However council leader David Christian said while the council needs to explore the potentials of a different site to hold the event, members had expressed concern that the council had ’run out of locations’.

Potential locations included Noble’s Park, which removes the switch-on entirely from the town centre, and the quay, which would likely require barriers to be placed along the entire length of the North Quay to prevent anyone falling into the harbour.

Mr Christian added: ’Maybe we shouldn’t hold the event but just do a switch-on at 7pm and put a sound system through the town with a CD playing Christmas music.

’I fear there isn’t an alternative but the event may have to end. Yes, people will be disappointed, and so am I, but we don’t have the options of UK towns which can have a major switch-on in a large square.’

Mr Christian told members that in his experience of working with the ESAG, members would, in his eyes, have only until next month to find a site as it would take a long time to work out health and safety details of the event.

Councillor John Clague suggested that the council could hold a variety of smaller events through the high street such as a Santa’s grotto.

Councillor Elizabeth Quirk added: ’The lights have been great, and they were last year. The team who put them together do a fantastic job, but with nowhere else in Douglas to hold a switch-on, maybe we should drop the event.’