A councillor has defended Guiseley’s Christmas decorations after they were described as “stark and dismal”.

Graham Latty said he and his two fellow ward councillors spent about £6,000 on decorations each year.

He was responding to criticism from Guiseley resident Anne Waite who asked why there had been no festive light switch-on in the town.

She said that a number of big national retailers – including Morrisons, Argos, M&S, Boots, TK Maxx and Asda – had outlets in the town.

“Would it not be too much to ask them to dig into their extremely full pockets?” she asked.

But Coun Latty said: “We ward councillors have to find the money to pay for whatever we can afford out of what is called Wellbeing Money. This is money we can spend on things that should improve life in our communities.

“Two years ago we wrote to all the businesses on that strip of road asking for help with funding. We had an offer from only two.”