This year, the traditional Christmas celebrations will be held under the banner of Winter Light Night and will take place at venues in and around the city centre instead of the customary main event held in the City Square.

“This year’s event is an experiment and it is an experiment that has been carried out successfully in a number of other cities,” llr Guild said.

“We are trying something new to try to broaden the involvement of the public throughout the city centre.”

He added, “I think people will be pleasantly surprised.”

Councillor Guild was commenting after concerns were raised over the lack of tradition in this year’s city lights switch-on.

Church groups have expressed concern that the word Christmas has been omitted from the celebrations.

Lord Provost John Letford also voiced his disappointment that the traditional Christmas switch-on would not take place this year.

However, Councillor Guild said this year’s festivities would hopefully allow more people to take part in the city’s celebrations.

“There are two main reasons that we wanted to do the Winter Light Night in the city,” he said.

“Firstly, we wanted to try and involve many more people in the celebrations. The idea is that it is a much wider event than before.

“The second reason is that we have had comments in the past about the barriers erected around the square for the usual lights switch-on. They do cause problems for many parents as they have to try and get their families in early to ensure a space.

“There have also been crush problems behind the barriers, which presents a safety issue.”

Mr Guild said a meeting had been held between council officials and church leaders to ensure Christmas was a part of this year’s celebrations.

As a result, a number of church-based events have been added to the city’s festive programme, including a candlelit concert at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Although there are presently no plans to include the customary address by a member of the Christian clergy in this year’s festive programme, Cllr Guild stressed plans for the event were still being tweaked and could result in last-minute changes.

Cllr Guild said he hoped the city council’s new concept for the festive celebrations would go down well with the public.

“It is an experiment that I hope people in the city will enjoy and support,” he said.

“More and more people will be involved this year and we are hoping to have a very good Christmas in the city.”