Santa Tours Update
“Santa Tours Review Underway”
A review of the Town Council’s Santa Tours is underway with a view to enhancing and improving the event ahead of Christmas Eve 2026.
The Council has set up a Santa Tours Sub-Committee to undertake this review, made up of councillors, Santa Tours volunteers and members of the public. This ensures that a diverse range of views and opinions can be heard.
This review follows the essential changes made to the format of the event last year in light of increasing safety concerns and logistical challenges running the tours in the traditional format.
These concerns and challenges included near misses between Santa vehicles and children in the road and local traffic, difficulties sourcing enough volunteers and vehicles, the growing town, the increased volume of parked cars on Christmas Eve making narrow streets very difficult to navigate safely, anti-social behaviour and abuse of volunteers, and safety concerns with Santa travelling on the back on the vehicle on the highway.
The Council’s Health and Safety Advisor and insurers advised that adjustments needed to be made to the event, to mitigate several high risks, and ensure the safety of both residents and volunteers.
The challenge for the Council was adapting the event to ensure all risks were satisfactorily mitigated and the logistical challenges overcome, whilst seeking to maintain and protect the magic of Santa touring Great Aycliffe on Christmas Eve and ensure the event is accessible to as many residents as possible.
Last year, the event was adapted into a hybrid system whereby Santa stopped at a number of ‘meet and greet’ locations around the town, at designated times, allowing families a choice to come to whichever location and time suited them best. This was supplemented by a limited tour of the town with Santa in the vehicle but not stopping. Santa also made visits to local care homes earlier on Christmas Eve.
Whilst the fixed location meet and greet system and care home visits worked well and proved popular with those who attended, and the volunteers and community facilities that took part, the touring element was very badly received, with families unhappy that Santa could not enter cul-de-sacs or dead ends, was inside the vehicle, and unable to stop and engage with families.
The review of the event this year will look in more detail at what went well last year, and what did not work, and seek to identify options and ideas for improving the event ahead of Christmas Eve 2026.
The first meeting of the Santa Tours Sub-Committee took place on 3rd March 2026.
The agenda, minutes and reports relating to this meeting can be accessed via the Meeting Section of the Council Website: https://www.great-aycliffe.gov.uk/meetings-diary/past-meetings/
The Santa Tours Sub Committee discussed two options for the 2026 event:
1.Running the event as closely to the traditional tour as is safely possible, using Council vehicles only, but over several nights in the run up to Christmas Eve; or
2. Maintaining and enhancing the fixed location, meet and greet format on Christmas Eve, with more and improved locations, and the care home visits, but with no touring element.
It was agreed that the fixed location meet and greet system should be the preferred ‘core’ option for the event, and the sub-committee has agreed to investigate ideas for further improving and evolving this format, for example by identifying more and better locations, and working with local community centres, churches and public houses to secure indoor and outdoor locations.
It was further agreed that further investigations be made into the feasibility of maintaining some form of tour of the streets on Christmas Eve, as close as possible to the traditional tours, in addition to the fixed locations, possibly in partnership with local groups such as the Rotary Club.
A review of the resourcing of the event was also agreed as part of the next budget setting exercise.
A further meeting of the Santa Tours Sub-Committee is due to be held in April at which it is hoped some firm decisions can be made as to the format of the 2026 event in order to allow more detailed planning to take place.
At this meeting, a public consultation will be developed to establish public opinion on the preferred option and to seek ideas for further improving the event, which will be widely publicised to gain as much feedback as possible from local residents.
Please keep an eye on the Council’s website, social media channels and local press for further updates, meeting dates, and details of the consultation.
Finally, the Council would like to say a big thank you to all the volunteers, past and present, who have given up their time to help Santa bring joy on Christmas Eve, and to those who have agreed to serve on the Santa Tours Sub-Committee.
