SHOPKEEPERS will be asked to dip into their tills to help fund Christmas lights in town centres.

Traders in Whitworth already pay £15-£20 per shop towards decorations in the town. Now shopkeepers throughout Rossendale will be asked to follow suit.

At the same time the council will look at ways of finding the money for extra lights in town centres after Bacup councillor Jimmy Eaton complained that the decorations were spread too thinly in the Valley.

Leisure chairman Coun Lawrence Forshaw said: "We've approached traders time and time again but with little response."

Now deputy mayor Alan Neal will quote the Whitworth agreement as a model for the whole Valley. He said: "There isn't a single business in Whitworth which doesn't contribute.

"I would like to see the traders in the rest of Rossendale follow the Whitworth example. They have the idea that everything must be paid for by the council but Christmas lights are mainly for the traders' benefit."

But councillors have turned down a request from Rawtenstall Chamber of Commerce to switch the lights on at noon every day rather than later in the afternoon. The extra power would have cost the council £250.

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