A CHRISTMAS campaign to promote the town has been supported by Cockermouth councillors, who have agreed to pay for it with Government funding allocated to help places bounce back following the pandemic.

Councillors will also look into the price of buying a stage which could be used for town events, replacing damaged and dated flowerbeds in the town centre and buying a Pride flag.

The town has been given a grant of £10,000.

Allerdale Council has secured funding from the Government's Welcome Back Fund and told the town council: "We would like to work with Cockermouth Town Council as a delivery partner to use £10,000 of the funding to put in place additional measure to create and promote a safe environment for local trade and tourism, particularly in high streets as local economies recover from Covid."

The Chamber of Trade suggested spending some of the money on video advertising campaigns, which proved a big success earlier this year. It has created a Christmas campaign which cost £1,500 and came out this week.

At a recent meeting, Coun Grace Bennion said: "The Chamber proposal is really comprehensive. Given they're the experts in what they're doing - bringing back trade to the town - I think it would be a good use of the money."

The Main Street flowerbeds could do with being replaced, said other councillors.

Coun Isobel Burns: "They're chipped, an eye sore and disgrace."

Coun Richard Watson agreed. "They have been hit by vehicles over the years and are out of keeping with the style of Main Street. They look 1970s, so a bit of money spent on something so central to the town wold be good," he said.

He also called for the council to support Pride month and buy a flag which could be used each year.

Coun Alan Kennon said: "How about getting our own stage instead of using trailers at events. It could be used by anyone in the town, wherever they want to put it. It's become a danger having little kids up there on the trailers."

It was decided to support the Christmas campaign, find out how much a stage would cost, also new flower beds and a rainbow banner for Pride.

The Chamber of Trade commissioned two Love our Local online video advertising campaigns earlier year to promote the town as it came out of lockdown. They proved a big success.

"The adverts were instrumental in attracting staycation holiday makers to Cockermouth and attracting day trippers to the town. They also encouraged local residents to return to the High Street to shop and socialise, providing a much-needed boost to our High Street and businesses," said a spokesman.