Flashing lights will be banned from a town's Christmas display this year after a resident with epilepsy complained.

Carterton Town Council has agreed to pull the plug on flashing lights, after concerns were raised by a woman with epilepsy, who complained fast flickering lights last Christmas caused her problems.

Town clerk Janet Eustace said the flashing lights were added to the display within the past two years to try to make it more interesting, but would now be removed and only static ones used.

She said: "One particular lady suffers from epilepsy and when the concern was put to the council one or two members mentioned that they knew of the impact the lights could cause, so the decision was taken that it was probably best to take out the flashing lights from this year's display."

Jack Mundy, of the National Society for Epilepsy, said only five per cent of Britain's 450,000 sufferers had photosensitive epilepsy, which can cause seizures set off by flashing lights, and the risk of Christmas lights sparking the condition was extremely small.

But most of Oxfordshire's other town centre displays had already introduced static light-only displays, or used lights which flashed in a sequence which would not trigger epilepsy.

Oxford City Council spokesman Louisa Dean said there had never been any complaints about flashing lights, although most of the city's displays were static.

In Abingdon, where a combination of static and flashing lights are used, town clerk Nigel Wallace said the council would consider the implications of flashing lights during a risk assessment this year.

He said: "My understanding has always been that we use lights which have been approved by manufacturers as not causing a problem like this, but it does raise an important issue and is something we will definitely consider."

Witney Town Council said the town only had "one or two" flashing lights, which were erected on council property in commercial areas, so as not to cause a problem.

She said: "We've not had any complaints from individuals, but we're aware that flashing lights can affect people with epilepsy, so we would consider this if purchasing new lights."