TRADERS are in the dark over whether they will receive council cash towards Christmas lights.

Two funding applications were discussed last night for cash to help install illuminations in South Woodford and Woodford Green and Bridge.

But councillors were split over spending £9,000 on festive lights.

Last year shopkeepers in Snakes Lane East and St Barnabas Road, Woodford Green, were angered after councillors for Bridge Ward chose not to purchase any festive decorations, despite having a discretionary budget of £12,000.

The committee budget this year currently stands at £55,134 but councillors could not agree on whether paying for Christmas lights represented value for money.

Paul Canal, Bridge councillor, said: "Bearing in mind the tightening of budgets I would like members' views whether six weeks of Christmas lights is the best way for the council to spend its money?

"When there are budget pressures elsewhere I think it's not the best way."

Ian Bond, Roding councillor, agreed and said: "The council is looking at how to make £20 million of savings so it's important we focus.

"The thing that occurs to me is that we have Christmas lights in a large number of places around the borough, it's not as if we have no lights at all."

Mr Bond said it also made no financial sense paying for a launch event when "people expect Christmas lights to be turned on, we don't need a ceremony for it".

Michael Stark, Monkhams councillor and Felicity Banks, councillor for Roding, both said the requests were not for extortionate amounts.

Mr Stark said: "I quite like Christmas lights and we've not come to the end of the world as we know it yet, have we?"

The applications for funding are from the South Woodford Business Partnership, which would like a contribution of £3,713 to its £7,000 project, and the Woodford Green and Bridge Business Patnership is after a £5,181 contribution to its £6,680 project.

Members, speaking at an Area 2 Committee meeting at Ray Lodge Primary School in Woodford Green, agreed to pass the responsibility to councillors Linda Huggett and Richard Hoskins, who jointly chair the committee but were not at the meeting.