Trowbridge businesses are being urged to get into the spirit of Christmas to save the town's festive light display.

Putting up Christmas lights in the town centre costs up to £20,000 every year and town businesses are being asked raise £3,000 towards the cost.

Christopher Macer, president of Trowbridge Chamber of Commerce, said: "There is a danger that the Christmas lights will not be affordable this year and we believe that it should not be beyond the power of business in the town to raise £3,000 towards them."

The chamber has written to businesses requesting a minimum donation of £25 but there are fears the response, as in previous years, will not be an enthusiastic one.

Mr Macer said: "A large number of the major retailers always seem to say they need approval from head office but then head office says no.

"They want the advantages of an attractive town centre but without contributing."

The town council puts in the majority of the money to be spent on the Christmas lights but asks the chamber to raise £3,000 from local businesses but, last year, the amount raised was less than £2,000.

Town development manager Daryl Saville Brown said: "The lights bring in people in the winter but a lot of businesses fail to see it like that and think it's the responsibility of the town council."

Town councillor Tom James said: "The council tries its best and we do very, very well but I feel the chamber should have more of an input.

"The lights bring a lot of people into the shops so it is really about businesses helping themselves."

The council has tried over the past few years to extend the lights further out of the town centre but needs funds to do so.

Most of the money spent on the lights goes on putting them up and taking them down which takes up to six weeks.

This year the council faces the further expense of having to find somewhere to store the lights.

Until now they have been stored at the BT depot in Bythesea Road but the company can no longer accommodate them.

Mrs Saville Brown said: "We now have to find and pay for a new storage area, unless someone else volunteers."