TWELFTH Night has long gone, but City of York Council is risking bad luck by leaving its Christmas decorations up.

The council installed 200 small trees on brackets attached to buildings in seven city centre streets in the run-up to Christmas.

But with February approaching, the trees still remain on display, complete with fairy lights, which are lit up day and night, wasting taxpayers’ money on electricity.

Coun Brian Watson, who represents Guildhall on City of York Council, said it was time the Christmas decorations were put away for another 12 months.

Coun Watson said: “I think they should have been taken down and the lights switched off by now as everybody is past Christmas time.

“The decorations should be removed and the fairy lights turned off, so I will be making one or two inquiries as to why they are still there.”

The trees were put up in December along with the large tree in St Helen’s Square, although this has been removed. The 200 smaller trees – which measure about 4ft – were fixed to properties in Coney Street, Davygate, Low Petergate, Fossgate, Colliergate, Goodramgate and Micklegate.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said: “Unfortunately, it has taken longer that expected to take down the Christmas decorations in the city centre, for which we can only apologise.

“2008 was the first year we had used the individual Christmas trees and while they looked very effective, the lights have to be turned off at each individual tree, which slows down the removal process.

“We’ll be looking at how we can improve our systems as soon as we’ve taken all the trees and lights down.

“LED lights were used specifically because of their energy efficiency and the total cost of the energy needed to light the decorations since Twelfth Night will be negligible.”

The village of Elvington also has its Christmas tree still up, although the lights have been removed.

Coun Ian Bailey, chairman of Elvington Parish Council explained: “It’s such a big tree that we have to make special arrangements to get a farmer to take it down and replace it with the village maypole.”

Have you seen any other Christmas decorations in York that are still up? If so, phone The Press newsdesk on 01904 567131.