Councillor calls for action to repair defected street lights across Southport

Councillor calls for action to repair defected street lights across Southport.

A councillor has called for action to repair Southport’s growing number of defective street lights.

Cllr David Barton, who represents Dukes Ward on Sefton Council, said there was a worrying backlog in the work after the authority changed its maintenance provider at the start of the year.

He urged the authority to prioritise repairs on health and safety grounds and appealed for residents to report the exact locations of defective lights in order to speed up the work.

Cllr Barton, a leading campaigner for the regeneration and restoration of Southport, said the main areas affected included London Square, Lord Street, Esplanade, Promenade, Nevill Street and Marine Parade encompassing the Marine Way Bridge and the surrounding entertainment grounds at the crossroads there.

He said: “Some locations where there is joint responsibility between Sefton Council street lighting and power networks such as Scottish Power are also being pursued in earnest including the southern Gardens Lamp Posts between Kingsway and Coronation Walk on Lord Street, which have been intermittently operative.

“Having reported these locations and other areas such as Part Street and Princes Street I am hopeful that these locations are actioned for works by the new contractors as soon as possible, on the grounds of health and safety.”

Due to operational issues and a transition in the council’s service provider, from December 15 to January 29 the authority only be attended ‘urgent’ or ‘emergency’ street lighting faults.

Routine faults were logged accordingly but there is no a backlog of repairs.

Previously such faults would have been identified via the night scouting regime, but since this service ceased in October the council no longer has the benefit of receiving accurate fault repots on a regular basis.

Cllr Barton added: “I should like to thank the relevant departments at Sefton Council who have already undertaken the appropriate remedial works at Nelson Street at my behest in recent weeks and would encourage anyone with any further lighting issues to get in touch as soon as possible.

“Having previously also reported all defective lamp posts along Lord Street, in some instances I have observed there to be no identifiable labelling, and I have requested that this is rectified.

“If residents can continue to provide as much information as possible, on which specific lamp posts are of concern, where they are located precisely if they do not have an identifiable sticker and for how long approximately they have been defective this will help greatly when making formal submission to the department to have these rectified at the soonest opportunity.

“It is essential that we continue to make our environment a brighter better place to live, work and visit, and these prime locations should certainly be prioritised as part of Southport’s year-round showcase to investors and prospective employers.”