COUNCIL bosses have been branded Scrooges for failing to light up a Rossendale town at Christmas.

The town hall has been criticised after leaving Waterfoot traders in the dark for the third year running.

The plea to Rossendale Council came from businesses who said the town had the largest number of occupied shops in the Valley, but needed Christmas lights to help entice more shoppers.

Steve Taylor, owner of Steve's Greengrocer's in Waterfoot said: "We feel we are being left out, which is unfair. We pay our rates like other places but for some reason the council chooses to ignore us.

"People want to visit a bright and buzzing place which is what Waterfoot is, but at Christmas we fall behind all the other towns because we don't have any lights."

Tory opposition leader Coun Lorraine Hammond, who sits on Rossendale's leisure committee, said: "The issue of Christmas lights comes up every year and we do understand that people want to see their town lit up at Christmas.

"There was around £20,000 set aside in the budget for Christmas lights this year, of that between £5,000 and £6,000 is spent on the actual lights.

"The rest of the money is spent on staffing costs, putting the lights up, taking them down and maintaining them. New regulations have also been introduced to say that the electrics to light up a Christmas tree need to go underground - costing £2,000.

"People just don't realise the expense involved when it comes to Christmas lighting.

"We all have a wish list and would like to see everywhere lit up but we have budget constraints and this year the budget was focused on Bank Street in Rawtenstall, other areas will be looked at next year.

"We are looking at new ways of raising funding next year such as sponsorship and there is also a firm that make up lights from children's designs which would be a future incentive."