£20,000 to refurbish Newtown festive lights

Newtown's Christmas lights are set to be refurbished next year at a a cost of £20,000, but other town council areas will need to seek savings. 

Town councillors agreed that the festive lights, which were switched on last week for this year, will need to have £20,000 spent on them due to their age.

The Mayor of Newtown, Cllr John Byrne, said he believed the work was necessary as the lights would be more than six years old.

He was backed unanimously by councillors at last night's full town council meeting where budgets were touched upon.

Town Clerk, Ed Humphreys, said each council committee would need to seek savings to ensure next year's Council Tax precept didn't jump due to the rise in costs generally.

The council will discuss its 2024/25 budget at a meeting in January.