PLAID Cymru has criticised Caerphilly council after it withdrew funding for Christmas lights in town centres.

While there is equipment available across the county, Plaid said there is now no money to pay for contractors to put it up and down, store it and meet energy costs.

In a letter to town and community councils, the authority said they were having to make “unprecedented savings following significant reduction in funding from Welsh Government”.

It said: “We appreciate that this is disappointing news, but the authority is faced with making some very tough decisions over the coming years in order to protect jobs and key frontline services.”

One of the savings agreed at the council’s last budget meeting was to withdraw funding for seasonal lighting which had been arranged by lighting company Centre Great.

And the leader of the Plaid group on the council Cllr Colin Mann said: "It is really disappointing that there will be no Christmas cheer from the council this year.

"We are well aware of the difficulties local authorities face with funding but I question whether the council has explored all avenues to obtain alternative sources of support."

He said he hoped town and community councils will be able to finance some lighting but that he thought the county council should be leading the way.

But Caerphilly council’s leader Cllr Keith Reynolds criticised what he said was Plaid’s “irresponsibility”.

He said: "Plaid have only criticism but no answers to the financial difficulties facing our council. Our priority is to protect social services for our most vulnerable residents and support other vital services that people depend upon on a daily basis.”

While a council spokeswoman said: “Residents will be aware that at a meeting of council back in February, councillors had to take some difficult decisions in order to find savings in excess of £12 million for 2015/16, and fortunately, the vast majority of these savings have had no direct impact on frontline communities across Caerphilly county borough.

“Further significant savings are also required in 2016/17 and 2017/18, therefore members felt it crucial to adopt a number of key principles to help guide the budget setting process – including protecting front-line services and focussing on priorities, in order to ensure the impact of these financial constraints on our residents is minimised."