Mr Spink says that he and Councillor Peter Nield have asked council officers for a meeting early in the new year in order to discuss how Arbroath can avoid a poor display in 12 months' time.

Both councillors had expressed their concerns in back in May, as reported in the Herald, but were told it was too late to rectify the problem in time for this Christmas.

Mr Spink told the Herald: "I will always put Arbroath first on this on this subject as in all others and in fairness refer you to the statement in the Herald on May 28.

"At a meeting myself and Councillor Peter Nield had with council officers on the subject of Christmas lights in Arbroath we strongly expressed our concerns and now our fears have been realised.

"Councillor Nield and myself have again asked for a meeting with officers of the council in February, since we were too late (May in fact) to make any changes."

Following the meeting Councillor Spink had with council officers in May, he also requested to see a report which outlines how much was spent on Christmas lighting in Angus in 2008 and how much this compares to Arbroath.

These figures have been passed on to the Herald by Councillor Spink and show Angus Council spent a total of £154,539 with Arbroath receiving £33,319.

He added: "I have analysed the per capita spend comparing Arbroath with the rest of Angus and can find no fault in the fact Arbroath comes off marginally better, so there is no extra spend outside of Arbroath as some suspect.

"The total cost to Angus Council was £154,539, to an allocated budget of £130,000, thus a £22,539 shortfall.

"There are 83 lighting features on the Arbroath asset list with an average age profile of 10 plus years with an estimated replacement cost of £50,600."

Readers have contacted the Herald regarding Christmas lights in Arbroath that are frequently not working, but a spokesperson for Angus Council said: "We have a night scout who identifies both street and Christmas lighting faults and reports them to the contractor the following day.

"All Christmas lighting was tested and working before and at installation, but in many instances the lighting is old and subject to failures.

"We endeavour to repair the festive lights as soon as possible once we are made aware they are faulty and would encourage members of the public to report faults through the ACCESSLine 08452 777778."