Residents of a beautiful seaside town have been left outraged after the council installed a ‘Poundland’ Christmas tree.

The little tree was installed at the entrance to Deal’s pier in Kent on Sunday by Dover District Council and has been immediately mocked by locals shocked by its diminutive size.

The council has now said that the tree installed was not the one they ordered and hoped to make a change soon.

Despite their admission of a mistake, locals have mocked the small tree and claimed it would be possible to get a bigger one in local supermarkets.

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Speaking to the Mirror, local Peter Marsh said: “You can get bigger ones in Poundland. It’s underwhelming. It’s almost as tall as the pampas grass but not quite as big. I would have expected a better one. If you’re going to do it, do it properly.”

While Mr Marsh is disappointed by the council he says he is pleased that they are apparently being reasonable with its budget. He said he’s glad they’re not “spending too much money”.

Fellow local, Jill Breen, said: “It’s not the best I’ve ever seen but at least it’s not leaning to one side as I thought it might be. It’s not too bad though. I think it should have a star. I think maybe at night it would look lovely.”

The Mirror reported that people had also been commenting on the shape of the Christmas tree, tourist Jose Arue-Barker, 26, claimed it was an “odd shape” and described it as “underwhelming”.

Fellow tourist, Georgia Fry, 24, said she felt that Deal’s tree “needs some more decorations, maybe some red and gold”, but her view wasn’t shared by everyone including Grace Gabrielli.

Ms Gabrielli commented: “I think maybe we don’t need to spend a lot of money on a tree. There’s a cost-of-living crisis. Maybe there are other things money needs to go into. I think with the lights on it would be fine.”

Another tourist, Brian Hurst, 74, commented: “It’s the first time I’ve been to Deal and walking through the pier I saw it and I think it’s very good. I think they’ve made a lot of effort to do that and the criticism is unwarranted.”

In a statement, the leader of Dover District Council Councillor Kevin Mills said a bigger tree would soon replace the small tree next to the pier.

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Councillor Mills said: “I find it unacceptable that this has happened, and it makes the council department that dealt with it look bad.

“The tree wasn’t the one that was ordered and the company that supplied it will be replacing it with the correct one as a matter of urgency.

“I have insisted this has to be done as soon as possible.”

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