Biddulph Town Council has voted against spending an extra £5,000 on Christmas lights to illuminate the town hall.

Several councillors liked the idea of the lights, but it was agreed that the expense was unnecessary in the current climate.

Instead, it was agreed that £500 would be spent on buying lights to distribute throughout the community, to residents who would like to participate but may not be able to afford their own lights.

Councillors agreed that they didn't want to make the public feel like "money was no object" to the authority a week after spending over £4,000 on new robes for the town crier, and over £3,000 on improvements to the mayor's chain.

The discussion took place at a Town and Community Committee meeting on Zoom earlier this week.

Videos of the meetings are usually posted on the council's Facebook page, but due to "technical difficulties" an audio recording of this week's meeting was instead posted to the agendas page of the council's website, which can be found here.

Introducing the discussion, the council's chief officer Sarah Haydon said: "You've already made the decision to put lights up as usual. We're not able to have a switch on which is a real shame.

"We have invested small amounts each year to keep the lights in good condition. There is a festoon either side of the town hall connecting to the buildings either side, but unfortunately last year was the last time we could use those.

"One of the solutions our contractor came up with were strings of lights that would cover the entire council chamber, although the initial cost is quite substantial. There would be six different sections, like a wall of lights five metres deep and 12 metres wide, costing around £5,500."

Cllr Jill Salt opposed the idea, saying: "I'm firmly opposed to spending it this year. I don't think we should give the perception to the public that money is no object, and spend it when there are people starving, using foodbanks and losing jobs and houses.

"We will have lights and the town will look bright, so I don't think we should be spending this £5,000 on lights."

With Biddulph's mayor Cllr John Jones adding: "I love the idea of doing this, but it is a big chunk of money and the lights wouldn't be there for very long."

Cllr Nigel Yates said: "This isn't a normal year - we shouldn't be spending unnecessarily. If we were to go into tier 3 at some point, we would need money to spend on the community. In the present climate this is a frivolous spend."

Deputy mayor Cllr Sylvia Rushton instead suggested asking residents to take part in the tradition by putting up their own lights, saying: "I love lights, but spending £5,000 on them in this situation is a lot of money.

"We could ask people to switch lights on outside their own houses to give the town a bit of light."

Cllr Salt then suggested setting aside a smaller budget to distribute lights to families who would like to take part, but may struggle to afford it.

Following a debate, Cllr Connor Brady proposed allocating £500 to spend on lights, which would be distributed to residents through Biddulph Youth and Community Zone, as well as Biddulph's food banks and churches.

Cllr Rushton volunteered to be in charge of buying the lights and finding the best deals for them, before councillors agreed on the proposal.