Oakham Town Council has voted to buy a new PA system just three years after it spent more than £4,000 on one.

The old system was made available by Oakham Town Council to members of the public who did not have a means of public address at events, and has subsequently been broken and may now need to be repaired at cost to the council.

Speaking to members of the full council at a meeting on Wednesday (August 9) Cllr Adam Lowe said: "The bottom line is that the current PA system has either been loaned or somebody has used it and it no longer works properly as one of the amplifiers has blown. It is also a very large system, at least a two-man lift so quite cumbersome.

"We must look at the economic costs of a repair of the system and decide then what to do with it; but I am proposing an alternative system which only costs £299 and is so small it can be carried in one hand. On July 9 I brought this system to test it and found that it gave out quite an impressive sound. We can use it with our existing speaker cabinets.

"I have suggested however, that if we approve its' purchase, we no longer advertise that we will allow people from outside of the town council to use it, except of course for the band and the choir. If people want a public address system, then in future they will simply have to supply their own."

Cllr Paul Ainsley asked: "How often do we actually use the PA system, and as band master will this new system be able to be used for the band and the choir? Are we proposing to get rid of the now defunct one, and replace it with the new one?"

Mayor Sally-Anne Wadsworth replied: "We have been using the current PA system almost every week, and yes, it would be available to the band and the choir, while Cllr Lowe is suggesting we try and repair the amplifier that is broken and then recoup some money by selling it."

Cllr Chris Nix said he knew somebody who repaired audio equipment and would ask them to give a quote for repairing the broken amplifier.

Members unanimously voted that Oakham Town Council purchase the simple PA system, and that events paperwork states they only off a PA system and that bands are responsible for their own mixers and amplification audio equipment.