The dispute arose following last year's disaster which saw one of the displays fall and injure two pedestrians in the High Street.

Now St Neots Town Council wants to end the £150,000 contract it had made with the company, Millennium Quest, and purchase the festive lights from them.

St Neots town clerk Phillip Devonald said the council had been in negotiations with the Maidstone-based Christmas lights specialists in order to terminate the £150,000 five-year lease-to-buy contract and to purchase the lights outright.

He said: "I hope to make an announcement soon to the effect that the town council has terminated the agreement which saw the company responsible for designing, installing and storing the lights.
"This year we should be back to normal with the town council once more responsible for installing the lights."

The town council decided to improve the Christmas display last year and following a presentation by Millennium, contracted the company to provide the lights.

It was decided that in the long term, the buy-to-lease scheme would reduce the annual cost to the town's coffers and provide a much more attractive display to encourage Christmas shoppers.

However, it all went terribly wrong on the morning of November 29, 2007.
One day before the town's annual lights switch-on, disaster struck when a large, cross-street lighting rig fell from its harness on the side of the Norwich and Peterborough building.

Two women who were passing were struck by falling masonry. One of the women is believed to have suffered a broken collar bone and the other had an injured hand.

Separate investigations were launched by both the Government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the town council, although neither have yet released any findings.

A spokesman for the HSE said: "The inspectors have nothing yet to report. The investigation is still on-going."
Managing director at Millennium Quest Eric Stoke said his company was still in discussion with St Neots Town Council and therefore would make no further comment.