COUNCILLORS have decided not to use council tax to fund rides at a Christmas funfair in the town, stating that is not the best 'value for money'.

Andover Town Council voted on a motion which would have allowed the council to spend up to £1,500 of council tax money to provide free rides at the annual fairground at Christmas time.

In previous years, rides have cost around £2 per ride, and some councillors believed that they could alleviate financial struggles for families during the cost of living crisis, by using council tax money to make the rides free.

The idea was put to a vote in a full council meeting held at The Lights Theatre on Wednesday, June 19.

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Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Mark Farren said: "I believe it was this town council that voted in favour of writing a letter to the MP to declare a cost of living crisis because everybody knows that writing letters solves stuff.

"This gives us an opportunity at Christmas time to make funfair rides more accessible to the less able members of our community, so if there is a cash limit on what we spend on it, I really don't see a problem with providing something for the people of Andover."

Deputy mayor Cllr Katherine Bird said: "I had imagined everything was free, but I hadn't realised that they charge families, I think £2 a ride, so if you're bringing three kids, it adds up."

Cllr Robin Hughes responded by saying: "It cost me £20-£40 every time I went in the past, but I understood that was the cost of having a family.

"It's a case of giving away council tax money which isn't ours, it's our residents' and just saying 'oh we've got a lot of it, let's just pass it on to this' - if we do it this year - there will be an expectation the following year. It opens something up and then 'Why aren't we paying for the funfair at this event, or the next event there's a funfair at' and before we know it - it's out of our remit - I'm sorry - I cannot support the proposal"

Cllr Katherine Bird said: "It's not for me to make a proposal, it's for me to just put the question in front of you: Is this something you want to consider, or not?

"But I feel that if I don't put things in front of you, you may miss opportunities to help where you might feel that it's appropriate. I can't guess how everyone feels."

Cllr Steven Hardstaff gave his thoughts, saying that the proposal is not the best use of council tax money.

He said: "I have to be honest and say that I agree with some of the points being made here, which is the cost of living is absolutely pinching people here, and we need to do something about it.

"The cost of the rides is actually quite primitive to some of those people, however, I really have to question whether this is best value for money and what we are being asked to spend council tax on, and I'm afraid to say I agree with Councillor Hughes that I don't think this is good value for money.

"And also, if we do make these rides free, I'm not being funny but the event itself attracts a lot of people, and there is going to be a lot of unhappy people who are going to be stood there waiting for a ride that's free because there is a big queue. I think it will give us bad publicity."

A vote was put forward asking councillors if they were in favour of giving up to £1,500 towards the event as long as it makes the rides free.

One councillor voted in favour, five voted against and three abstained from the vote.