CHRISTMAS lights and a tree could be put up in Tonedale this year for the first time as town councillors look to extend Wellington’s seasonal display.

Last year, the town council funded lights in Rockwell Green as well as the traditional lighting scheme in the centre of Wellington.

Now, councillors want to include the Tonedale community and have started to look at plans for a tree to be installed in the car park outside the One Stop store.

Assistant clerk Alice Kendall said with landowner and tenant agreement it should be possible to string Christmas lights around the commercial outlets in the Foxes building, such as One Stop, Braziers, Hair at Suite 7 and others.

The cost of hiring extra lights from the council’s supplier, Festive Lighting, in West Buckland, would be less than £350.

Mrs Kendall said Langford Lakes had been asked if it would provide a second tree in addition to the one it gave for the town centre, and if both trees were transported on the same lorry then the haulage cost could be kept to £900.

She hoped installation and removal of the tree would not be more than the £649 the council paid for the one in the town centre. Councillors also agreed to add a ‘curtain’ light display in South Street to this year’s Christmas lighting scheme after Joseph Welch Jewellers offered £500 toward the extra costs.

THE annual Wellington Christmas lights switch-on event will take place on the last Saturday in November for the next five years.

Town councillors agreed to the suggestion put by Cllr Marcus Barr to end the annual argument between councillors and traders over how many shopping Saturdays there would be between the switch-on and Christmas.