VOLUNTEERS are ramping up their campaign to “get the lights back” to ensure Westcliff's Hamlet Court Road is decked out throughout the festive season. 

Hamlet Court Calling, a community group set up earlier this year, is hoping to cover every single lamp-post along the length of the street in colourful Christmas lights this year. 

The street has not had a full Christmas display in the last five years, and Andy Atkinson is hoping it will help boost trade and benefit businesses during the festive season. 

Mr Atkinson, chairman of the Milton Society and member for Hamlet Court Calling, is confident the fundraiser will be a huge success and the street will be able to celebrate Christmas in style.

He said: “It is about making the area pretty and it is about regeneration. We are trying to recover our British High Street. It belongs to traders and residents, and we want to regenerate it and help this.

“The plan does have an economic side to it and we have talked to a lot of people. Significant players are involved and we want to make the place better to live and work.

“This is the first step to both. It is about bringing the community together at Christmas time, having an attractive road but helping traders get footfall and improve their turnover and succeed.”

The group are hoping to raise £3,000 and are almost at the £1,000 mark already. 

Andy added that a Christmas tree would be a possibility if they overshot, though “it is nothing we can promise.”

He said: “The plan is to have battery-operated lights as this will involve no connection to existing electrics and we will wrap lampposts in low voltage lights.

“Every lamp-post would be covered, which would be amazing. Now we only need at funding finalised and we are very optimistic.

“We have council support so far and everything is aligning. We are reassured these are good and will last the festive season. They are good and sustainable.

“The lights haven’t been here in a while and we agreed it would be a worthwhile project.”

The group has ambitions past the Christmas lights to try and promote Hamlet Court Road.

To donate: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Light-Up-Hamlet-Court-Road