LIVERPOOL will be unveiling its greenest Christmas tree yet to celebrate the city’s Year of Environment today.
The 61-foot tall Sitka Spruce, in Church Street, will be adorned with a kilometre’s worth of eco-friendlier lights.
The tree has been sourced from Northumberland, instead of Scandinavia, to reduce its carbon footprint. A record- breaking 9,000 energy- efficient Light Emitting Diodes and 298 baubles will hang from it.
It will be lit from this Thursday when 139,500 individual lights across 4km of the city centre will also sparkle into life, dazzling the city’s hundreds of thousands of festive visitors.
This year, for the first time, the lights will extend from the shopping district all the way up to the Cultural Quarter around William Brown Street, and will also complement the festive display in Liverpool One.
Because of the energy- efficient bulbs being used, the lights are 44% cheaper to run than the system used in 2007.
Council leader Cllr Warren Bradley says: “The run-up to Christmas is the most important time of year for the city’s traders, and during these tough economic times we are determined to do as much as possible to entice people from across the region to come and spend their money in Liverpool.
“As this is Liverpool’s Year of the Environment, we have paid particular attention to making sure that we use as little energy as possible, minimising our carbon emissions and the impact on the planet.”
