The colourful town centre hanging baskets will return this year after Hadleigh council and Babergh district councillor Mick Fraser agreed to funding for the project.

The town council will pay £2,750 towards Hadleigh in Bloom, while Cllr Fraser will pay £750 from his Babergh Locality Awards Scheme.

Stuart Service on behalf of Hadleigh In Bloom under the umbrella of Visit Hadleigh, made the application after it became apparent the same level of private funding which paid for the project last year would not be replicated this year due to another lockdown.

It is envisaged this grant would be a one-off as businesses would be better placed to resume funding next year..

Cllr Gordon McLeod was impressed at how the baskets looked last year and added: "They looked wonderful last year. "They transformed the High Street and the way people are at the moment they need to see things down that are up-lifting."

All the councillors were in favour of providing the funding although questions were raised at how the costs were broken down and concerns were aired about how grant applications were checked by the council after the monies had been paid out.

The grant was paid out of a fund budget, which stood at £7,000, and is used by the town council for discretionary grants for projects within Hadleigh.

Meanwhile, councillors agreed they would vote on Christmas tree expenditure in future after it was accepted the council's proper financial regulation had not been followed.