A review of who puts up Maldon's Christmas lights is under way after the 2002 display was criticised.

Maldon Town Council has claimed it is still reviewing whether it will pay the full price for the display, and at a meeting of the finance and general purposes committee, it was made clear the chances of the same contractor being hired again this year were very slim.

Festive Illuminated Lighting was hired by the town council, for a sum of £6,500, to put up the lights at designated spots in the town and told they were not to be installed until the beginning of November at the earliest.

But to the dismay of the council, and Maldon residents and businesses, the lights were in place in mid-October.

Helen Vincent, clerk to the council, said: "They were up, literally, overnight. They had been done all in one go and we had no idea they were being done."

She added that although this was in breach of the contract she understood that David Gray, who runs the company, also had 30 other towns to see to before Christmas.

A council report stated that two weeks prior to the switching-on ceremony there were still works outstanding.

The Evening Gazette was unable to contact Festive Illuminated Lighting for a comment

Published Wednesday, January 15, 2003

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