The City of Hamilton is working hard to get the Christmas lights up.

Yesterday the corporation explained that all the lights should have been up by Monday; however, due to broken circuits they have fallen behind.

Ed Benevides, Chief Operating Officer and Secretary for the City, told a public meeting: “We are working on it. There are some broken circuits and we are working with Belco to fix them. Some were caused by accidental drilling and some were caused by other outages.

“We hope to have all the Christmas lights on by Friday December 3.”

During yesterday’s public meeting Alderman Pamela Ferreira said retail owners had complained this year’s lights were not bright enough and failed to entice shoppers.

Shop owners, including the Chamber of Commerce’s retail spokeswoman Kristi Grayston, said the lights were vital when it came to the shops earning money during the busy business season.

This year the City moved from the “clothesline” lights it has used for years, which were costly and often broke, to new LED lights.

While the light and decorations in Northeast Hamilton, such as on Princess Street, are working Mr Benevides said they were trying to deal with the circuit problem on Reid Street and other areas of Southwest Hamilton.

Earlier this year the corporation decided to switch to LED lighting for Christmas to save money on electricity.