A group of businesses in Gerrards Cross which organises and funds the town’s Christmas lights has pleaded for the town council to give them £15,000 to improve them following criticism last year.

James and Polly Lusher, from the Gerrards Cross Traders Association (GXTA), have approached the town council for a donation towards this year’s Christmas lights scheme after admitting that last year’s were not as good as they hoped.

Polly Lusher said that due to a lack of businesses joining the association, which asks traders to pay £120 a year towards hanging baskets and the Christmas lights and currently only has 40 members, last year’s decorations were “smaller than we originally wanted.”

She said: “It was generally well received but we had financial restraints. We were very lucky to get some local businesses to give us some large lumps very, very last minute so we were able to pull the scheme together, but it didn’t come together exactly as we would have liked.

“There were some criticisms and there were some areas that weren’t as well-lit as we would have liked. This year we would like to do a bigger and better scheme. We don’t want the panic we had last year.

“We would like to improve areas in the town that didn’t get lights because we were conscious that there were some pieces of roads that we didn’t have enough money to spend on.”

Last year the town council donated £7,000 towards the lights, while the traders association raising £4,500 and a £2,500 donation from the county council meaning the lights were saved, but this year GXTA wants £15,000 so they can purchase an improved three-year scheme.

James Lusher said the new scheme, which would cost £23,000 in the first year and £17,000 in both the second and third year, would mean they would need to “frontload the costs.”

Mrs Lusher said that with 120 traders in the town, having only 40 as members mean GXTA is “struggling” to get businesses to contribute the costs.

And Mr Lusher said: “We are losing a lot of independent stores, they have disappeared. With the exception of a couple of big boys we don’t really get any support or contribution from any kind of chain. We are going to do some work to increase participation but it’s hard won.”

Cllr Mike Lawson said more businesses in the town should be “paying their way.”

He said: “Residents are paying for the major share of these lights, it is coming from taxpayer’s money. But I think the traders, each of them, should be paying more towards them. We need to find out why they are not contributing.”

The town council decided they would discuss whether or not they would contribute the £15,000 at a Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting.

Last month, the Bucks Free Press reported that the GXTA is currently on a major recruitment drive to get businesses in the town to join them and put the town "firmly back on the map."