PEOPLE across Merseyside are really not happy with their community Christmas trees this year.

Colin Farley said the tree outside the Pyramids shopping centre in Birkenhead must be ‘Britain’s worst’.

The tree inside the Cherry Tree shopping centre in Liscard was donated by the Wirral Chamber of Commerce last year, and was launched as a way of remembering those we have lost.

People can place a bauble on a tree in a loved one’s memory.

Wirral Council said its borough’s trees and decorations are organised and largely paid for by local groups and community groups.

The trees and lights due to go up in New Ferry, however, are being paid for by the three Bromborough councillors themselves.

Some parts of Merseyside have been praised for their trees.

Gavin Scott said: “Bootle’s tree has to be the saddest in Merseyside. How it is so rubbish this year?”, while a Maghull resident called their tree a ‘load of rubbish’.

Some people, however, have been more understanding.

Jan Cropper said: “The council can’t win. Someone has used their brain and realised buying living trees means they don’t have to keep buying them, and there’s no waste each year. There are worse things to moan about, surely.”

Natalie Long added: “People need to stop moaning about these trees. I think it’s nice having a living tree.”

Formby’s tree, which local councillors say was donated to the village by Bootle-based housing company Sovini group, has been called ‘stunning’ and ‘the best in Sefton’ – with one Crosby resident saying she ‘wished she lived in Formby’.

And in Southport, there’s a less traditional tree this year. The town’s LED conical tree, paid for by Southport Business Improvement District, took three days to build.

A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “Unfortunately, there is no core budget for Council run Christmas activities as this was removed as part of the budget setting process a number of years ago due to government cuts.

“However, we do support established community groups through the Community Transition Fund to help them organise Christmas lights switch on events and the purchase of their own trees and lights.

“This year money has been available to groups in Formby, Crosby, Bootle and other parts of the borough and offered to Maghull.”