South Lanarkshire Council have confirmed they have been forced to axe this year's Christmas lights switch-on in Rutherglen and Cambuslang.
The popular annual gatherings on Rutherglen Main Street and Cambuslang Main Street are the latest events to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However Christmas lights will still be on display throughout the area.
The uncertainty around the type of events that could be held in November and the significant risk that tighter restrictions could be re-imposed - which would result in cancellation costs - have been cited as reasons behind the decision.
Executive Director of Community and Enterprise Resources, Michael McGlynn, said: “We are still determined to spread a bit of festive cheer this year but I am sure everyone recognises the challenges we face. In particular, we just cannot be certain about what type of events we would be able to hold this year.
“At this stage, we would normally have completed around 80 per cent of the work required for the switch-on events to take place, but we have been unable to do so this year because of the impact of Covid-19.”
As well as the council-organised switch on events, there are another 14 community run events which are not council funded or organised but get some support from the lighting unit.
Mr McGlynn added: “Unfortunately, it is unlikely that there will be the resources to be able to support these events in 2020 and we would not be recommending that any community group continue with their plans in the normal fashion.
“We would not support any social gatherings for Christmas events this year.
“We are still looking into a number of ways of highlighting that the lights are switched-on, and we will communicate this with everyone when we have the details.”
