Two neighbouring towns claim they have been forced to scrap their Christmas lights due to new health and safety regulations.

Traders in Harwich and Dovercourt in Essex say the regulations - which stipulate that lights must be put up by a qualified electrician and specific brackets used for weight bearing - would make the lights too costly to put up.

Jamie Shrive, vice chairman of Harwich Traders' Association, said he had put up the lights in the town for the last ten years.

"Last year we put the lights up and we had these guys from highways come down and say we were breaking highway requirements," he told the East Anglian Daily Times.

"We think it would cost about £2,000 to put the lights up. We just can't do that."

Terry Howlett, chairman of Dovercourt Traders, also told the newspaper it could not afford to put up the lights under the regulations.

A spokeswoman for Essex County Council said the regulations had been issued by the County Surveyors' Society and were used by councils across the country.

"These are national guidelines and I imagine practically every single authority in the whole of the country uses them," she said today.

"They are published by the Institute of Lighting Engineers and are not new, but were refreshed last year.

"We have issued information on this to all interested parties in the area to ensure they are fully informed.

"We are obliged to ensure work on this is done safely to safeguard the public. If anyone requires advice on this then we are happy to assist."

The spokeswoman added that lights that go across a highway need a licence, and that as yet no formal application had been made to the council for one.

She also said no requests had been made this year for Christmas lights funding.