health and safety regulations have meant one Forest town council can't afford to display traditional Christmas figurines on lampposts this year.

Cinderford Town Council says it would have to find up to £2,145 to abide by rules imposed by Gloucestershire County Council.

As the council has not increased its Christmas budget it has had to settle for rope lights!

Cinderford Town Clerk, Lynda Thomas said: "We are changing what we do with the columns this year.

"Gloucestershire Coun­­ty Council has introduced health and safety regulations which mean town councils have to pay for columns in the high street to be load-tested to ensure they can take the weight of the figurines.

"We had a quote for £60 to £65 per column and we have 33 in total. Unfortunately we haven't increased our Christmas budget this year, and therefore we can't afford it, but we intend to use the figurines, which are normally on the columns, on buildings around the Clock Tower in the Triangle.

"It is hoped that the rope lights will attract people towards the Clock Tower where the main display will be."

Cinderford Town Mayor, Max Coborn said: "It's got too much, I appreciate you have got to have health and safety but this is unbelievable. It'll get to the stage where the county council won't allow us to put anything up at all."

Street lighting manager, Ken Pitt said: "Cinderford Town Council is more than welcome to install Christmas displays on street lights. However, last year we found that one of the street lights that a display was installed on was corroded. With the added weight of the decoration, this was extremely dangerous and could have caused a serious accident.

"Following last year's discovery, it's vital that we make sure all our street lights are safe to support any additional weight and we've been speaking to the town council for several months to arrange to test the lights they want to use.

"As this is work on top of our normal programme we cannot do it for free, however we're keen to support the town council and the annual festivities in Cinderford so we will work with them to find an affordable solution that works for everyone."