DIY Christmas tree decoration move criticised

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

A council has come under fire after inviting local residents to decorate its Christmas trees themselves.

A decision was taken last year to replace traditional cut Christmas trees with 16 living trees which were planted across the Pontypool Community Council area at the end of October.

While the community council has provided solar powered lights for the trees it has said any further decoration is up to local residents and their community councillors.

Litter

But the approach has been criticised over the potential impact of litter and how decorations that haven’t been approved by the council could potentially harm pets and wildlife.

Giles Davies, who represents Abersychan on Torfaen Borough Council, questioned what steps are in place to address potential problems from residents placing their own decorations on trees.

He said: “I don’t want to sound like a Scrooge but my concern is what happens when the decorations blow away? People can call me miserable but it’s not about that, it’s about doing the right thing.”

The independent councillor posted a photograph of a tree at Varteg bus terminus where plastic baubles had been blown off the branches and some had broken.

“If you do any research you’ll see that decorations affect wildlife, noise from tinsel can put birds off going to an area and it can be dangerous to dogs and if plastic baubles break it is brittle plastic and that can cause injuries.”

Risk

The borough councillor said he isn’t convinced tying decorations to trees with string will eliminate the risk

“What happens if a dog or a hedgehog eats the decorations or someone puts glass on there? What monitoring is taking place, I don’t think it’s been thought through.”

The original decision to no longer provide cut Christmas trees was criticised by Cllr Davies last year and he questioned some locations, including a tree, at Talywain, in a field he said is many used by dog walkers and on a steep incline.

Events

He also said he doesn’t believe the new trees are an improvement on what had previously been provided and questioned how communities will still be able to decorate the trees as they grow over the years.

Since the trees were planted community groups, including youth groups, have taken part in events to decorate them.

Pontypool Community Council leader Councillor Gaynor James said she didn’t want to respond to comments made by Cllr Davies.