Epping Town Council is looking to improve its Christmas decorations after a “disappointing” display last year.

A complaint about the town’s Christmas tree lights was raised at the virtual annual town meeting, when the unnamed complainant said the lights were “very short of what Epping residents would expect”.

Town Mayor Grahame Scruton admitted the lights had been disappointing and noted the issue with vandalism which had impacted on the display.

He added: "The contract is up for tender this year so we will be looking at what is provided very carefully to see if we can improve on that situation."

He told the meeting that the decorations that were in place costed the council £9,500.

This included the tree lights, the 120 small trees which adorn the shopfronts in the High Street and the five illuminated large trees.