COUNCILLORS in Tywyn have Christmas light envy and plan to spend more to make it as ‘pretty’ as other towns in the county over the festive period.

During an environment sub committee of Tywyn Town Council, the issue of the town’s Christmas lights was raised.

Cllr Matthew Cooling said: “At the beginning of December I travelled quite a lot between Tywyn and Caernarfon. Tywyn’s lights, whilst they’re pretty going up the High Street, they’re nowhere near in terms of quality. The way I want to explain it, in Barmouth when you come in, you’ve got a cross street thing that says Nadolig Llawen Abermaw and on the other side, Merry Christmas Barmouth. You’ve got something similar in Porthmadog.

“It feels more like homely in them places. Like they have made an effort. Bearing in mind costs, obviously electricity is going to be much higher, if we’ve got any budget to spend, I’d like to see a personalised cross-street (light). Something that is custom to Tywyn and has a nice message on it. I do look at other towns and I look at ours and they look poor in comparison.”

Cllr Aled Lewis said in response: “I agree but the drawback Tywyn has is the suitability of buildings.

“We’ve got the White Hall and the Corbett, but I see that as a bit of a non-starter.

“Dolgellau, Caernarfon, they’re ideal because they’re narrow streets.

“It’s a matter of sourcing locations.”

The town has two cross lights currently, but councillors want to increase that and spend more money on the festive feel of the town.

The town council currently spends around £8,500 on Christmas lights, around 7.7 per cent of its budget, but members of the sub committee felt this should be increased.

Cllr Cooling added: “Obviously, we have got to be cautious with anything we decide. I’d ideally aim to have another couple (cross street lights). Whether that’s going to be possible this year or next, I don’t know.

“I’d like to see something like that.

“It brings a bit of brightness. I felt it was more Christmas cheer than what we were offering here.”

Councillors also spoke of their desire to have Christmas lights along the promenade, which was described as neglected in the meeting.

Cllr Lewis added: “Personally, I would think you’d start off by extending with a couple down Idris Villa as half the population of Tywyn is down there.”

Cllr Cooling added: “We should commit at least 10 per cent to it.

“Other town and community councils clearly put a lot of money into it.

“If we are ever to get to a stage where our town looks as pretty as some of the other towns of a similar size across the county, we are going to have spend money on it.”

Cllr Gareth Mason: “Are we going to ask people their views on design and location?”

The sub committee voted to ask Tywyn’s finance committee, which meets to discuss the precept on 11 January for an additional £4,000, which would pay for an additional six lights in the town.