KNUTSFORD Town Council is set to spend £1,440 on replacement bunting to be displayed in the town centre next year.

In 2013 the council agreed that putting up bunting in the town centre added an air of celebration during the summer.

There was an arrangement with the Royal May Day committee for it to install its bunting for the summer, but in 2015 the committee said it no longer wished to provide the service due to the time needed for its volunteers to maintain the bunting and due to the damage caused by it being up for an extended period.

In 2016 the events committee approved the purchase of bunting and commissioned its annual installation.

A report to Monday’s committee said: “However the council’s bunting cannot be located; it was returned by the council’s contractor in late 2019 in bin bags and it is presumed it somehow got mixed up with rubbish and disposed of.

“The town council offices have been searched three times and it cannot be found.”

The cost of installing and removing the bunting annually is £2,400. This service would be re-tendered for a three-year period.

Cheshire East Council provided bunting for the town centre but did not provide enough to cover the whole town centre.

The Royal May Day Committee has installed its bunting in the town centre for summer 2020, but it did not cover the lower part of King Street nor Regent Street.

The town council arranged for the areas missed by the committee to be covered using the Cheshire East-provided bunting.

The cost of replacement bunting is £1,440 for 1.4km of heavy duty bunting in red, blue and yellow, the council’s colours.

READ>> Residents up in arms over Mobberley land work  

This will provide sufficient to cover King Street, Princess Street, Minshull Street, Silk Mill Street and Regent Street, the latter two having not been covered previously.

The cost would be covered by the committee’s town centre bunting budget as it has incurred reduced costs for the installation of bunting in the current financial year.