Amsterdam wants notification requirement for Christmas decorations | Inland

This can be concluded from the announcement ‘Participation in party lighting’ that the municipality of Amsterdam has put on its website. “In the autumn and winter months, the public space in (shopping) streets is often decorated with festive lighting. These additions provide a festive touch, but party lighting can sometimes be experienced as exaggerated, distracting or disfiguring, ”says the capital. “That is why clear rules are needed to monitor the balance.”

At the moment, a permit is still required for party lighting. That will no longer be necessary in the future. According to the municipality, the new rules and notification requirement will save a lot of paperwork.

Guidelines

Anyone who applies more than 1 square meter of lighting to his home or business premises will have to go to the (digital) municipal counter. Even if more than 10 percent of the facade is decorated, it must be reported. There are also all kinds of guidelines. For example, the lighting in historic buildings must be completely in line with the architecture.

The focus of the new rules is on the city center, shopping areas and large business premises. “The architectural appearance of these buildings is important for the city and should not be disguised during the winter and festive season. This means that: lighting design matches the shapes of the architecture, lighting design matches the surface division of the architecture, light tubes follow the shapes of the architecture, ornaments are not concealed and the lighting preferably accentuates the characteristics of the building.

’Warm wit’

“The use of decorative unlit details on facades is permitted, provided that it follows the surface division of the facade and does not disturb the legibility of the facade,” she states the Amsterdam city council.

An illuminated star here and there, for example, does not just get the approval of the municipality of Amsterdam. A big ribbon around a shop, as happened at the Scheltema bookshop on the Rokin, is no longer allowed in the future. According to the municipality, the Christmas lighting of the Magna Plaza shopping center in the past disguised parts of the facade due to a different surface distribution. “In addition, too much of the façade is obscured by the lighting,” says the city council. It is no longer allowed.

The main color for the lighting must also be ‘warm white’.

Furthermore, there will be rules from which month the party lighting may be hung and when it must be removed again, and that the lighting must be switched off at noon, for example (with the exception of the catering squares). A municipality spokeswoman says: “We want everyone to be able to enjoy cozy lighting in dark days, but that no unnecessary unsafe situations or nuisance arise. The lighting should strengthen the city center and not hide it. ”

The new rules do not yet apply to the current winter season.

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