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Community councils across Caerphilly should have more time to make their Christmas lights arrangements, a committee has heard.

Bob Campbell, clerk of Risca Town Council, said the organisation faced having to pay double for a local authority-approved contractor if it couldn’t file paperwork in time.

In response, local authority officers said they would improve their contact with community councils next year.

The higher authority’s approval is typically required because Christmas displays tend to be powered by street lights.

Mr Campbell said his council had only got the “go ahead” for its festive plans on the afternoon of Monday November 17.

Speaking at a Caerphilly County Borough Council liaison meeting, he said the timescale of several months afforded to community councils was “just not suitable” given the need to start the following year’s budget preparations in the autumn months.

“To let us know in the summer, with half a year to go, to find all this information – and if we were unable to, to take on one of the [local authority] listed contractors at double the cost to the Risca town community – well it’s a no-go,” he told the meeting.

Mr Campbell said he believed the borough’s community council “would have all accepted it” if the local authority had requested the information a year ahead of time.

Caerphilly Council street lighting engineer Gareth Fleming said the paperwork required of community councils was unchanged from previous years, except for one new piece of guidance.

Highways manager Gavin Barry added the current policies have “fundamentally been in place, and the status quo has been there, for the last two years”.

He said there was only “very limited uptake” from community councils last Christmas, but “this year it’s far, far higher”.

“But I certainly empathise with the position around funding,” he added. “I understand it’s a community led event, and we don’t try to be overzealous [but] we need to consider this – especially when we’re looking at electricity and the ramifications of getting it wrong.”

Mr Fleming said he was “always willing to get everybody’s application across the line” and urged community councils to contact him with queries.

“I don’t apologise for being extremely cautious when it comes to accessing our street lighting,” added Mr Barry, who said the local authority would “certainly go down further routes of engagement with community councils”.

This will include an “open house” and workshop next April for community councils to have “discussions with the local authority around their event plans.