Streets left in darkness

Streets left in darkness

15 January 2020

WHILE the lights are back on at Stormont they are continuing to go out across the district at an alarming rate — and with little prospect of them being repaired any time soon.

The Down Recorder can reveal this week that almost 550 street lights are currently not working in East Down, plunging many areas into darkness and the Department for Infrastructure confirming that due to budgetary pressures, it is only able to provide a limited repair service.

Province-wide, 10,000 street lights are currently not working with the government department having only eight engineers at its disposal to repair all of them.

Downpatrick tops the league table for broken street lights in East Down with 132 in need of repair, with Newcastle sitting in second place. Across the resort, 83 street lights are not working.

The figures are available on the NI Direct website under the reporting fault problems menu with other district 

hot-spots including Ballynahinch where 47 street lights are currently out of order.

Elsewhere, 40 faults have been reported in Killyleagh, with 34  brought to the government department’s attention in Castlewellan and Crossgar. In Saintfield, 27 faults have been reported.

In Ballygowan, 32 street lights are currently out of order with 21 and 19 faults reported in Ardglass and Killough respectively.

Sixteen street lights are out of order in Dundrum with 11 faults reported in Drumaness. The figures for the Spa and Clough are 11 and nine respectively.

Last month, the Department for Infrastructure confirmed that its current budget for street lighting repairs was approximately £1m, explaining that the figure was much lower than the £3.2m needed to provide a full street lighting repair service. 

It also revealed that repairs are now generally limited to those that can be carried out by the department’s internal street lighting workforce which only consists of five full and three part time electricians.

Downpatrick councillor Dermot Curran described the number of reported street light faults across large parts of East Down as “alarming” and hopes that the money to expedite much-needed repairs  will be earmarked by the new Stormont Executive.

He said broken street lights in many areas represent a health and safety issue, explaining that an examination of every town and village across the district will reveal a significant number of faults.

Cllr Curran described faulty street lights as a “hot topic” with politicians being contacted about the issue on all almost daily basis. He said the legacy of underfunding the roads department has experienced is now clear for all to see.

The politician said many will be concerned that the Department for Infrastructure does not have the money it requires to carry out much-needed repairs.

“While I understand the decision to prioritise emergency repairs, there is no doubt that the alarming figure of almost 550 faulty street lights across East Down is simply going to increase. Clearly the issue is going to get a lot worse before it gets better,” he said.

“Street lights which are not working in areas where elderly people and indeed young families live poses a major problem. A fully working street lighting system provides residents with a sense of security and helps deter would-be criminals.”

Cllr Curran said that while the new Stormont Executive will inevitably face calls for investment in many key areas including health and education, the Department of Infrastructure also required an injection of funding.

He added: “While the focus for some will be on major new roads schemes which is understandable, it is clear that the creaking infrastructure the government department is responsible for, including street lighting, requires major cash injection.

“The street lighting issues requires immediate attention. We are still in the grip of winter and several months away from the clearer evenings. Now that we have a local minister in place, I hope to meet her on this issue and other matters of local importance.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Infrastructure said that in common with many other parts of the public service, the Department continued to face budget challenges and resources were currently not available to provide for a full street lighting repair service.

She added: “Due to this restricted service, outages are taking longer than usual to be repaired. However, priority will be given to hazardous electrical defects and group outages.”