Winchester is set to boost its Christmas light display which has often been criticised for its meagre illuminations.

Civic chiefs and business leaders are seeking extra funding to brighten the festive display which currently only covers the pedestrian precincts and ignores major roads such as The Broadway, Jewry Street and St George's Street.

City centre manager Graham Love is calling for a Christmas Festival to promote Winchester as a Yuletide destination and counter the growing threat from rival shopping centres such as Southampton, Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Romsey and Eastleigh.

He believes brighter and more numerous lights will attract more shoppers and so recoup the investment.

The Winchester Town Forum, made up of city councillors representing the city area, is calling for the spending of an extra £24,000 to provide more lights and encourage more investment from the private sector. It will discuss the issue tomorrow evening.

A report to the forum estimates the cost of lighting up to 2007 at £51,000. Initially £24,000 would be spent on the lights this year with £9,000 in each of the following three years.

Mr Love said: "We all like to see a pretty festive display to cheer the dark winter days and the people of Winchester are no exception.

"Some parts of the city centre have no Christmas lights at all, while other streets benefit from only a few strands. The community of Winchester deserves better, after all we work and live in a vibrant, beautiful and historic city."

The City Centre Partnership is calling on council leaders and the business community to fund improvements to the lights for 2004.

Mr Love said: "I believe that it is up to both the public and the private sector to work together for the benefit of the whole community or nothing will happen at all. That would be a shame for Winchester, its people and the local economy."

He is asking for feedback about the festive display. Write to him at Winchester City Centre Partnership or visit www.wincity. co.uk/wccp.