Residents plunged into darkness after street lights cut down (From Gazette)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting GAZETTE NEWS to 80360, or email
Residents plunged into darkness after street lights cut down
12:00pm Saturday 6th October 2012 in News
RESIDENTS were plunged into darkness after street lights were cut down without warning.
Four lampposts in St Dominic Road and in St John’s Road were taken down by Essex County Council engineers over the last week, leaving residents without an explanation.
Paul Smith, borough councillor for St John’s, said representatives should have been informed before action was taken on the concrete posts.
“It came very much out of the blue,” Mr Smith said.
“This is at a time when nights are getting darker and when the lights are needed more.
“The last thing we want is for someone to trip and fall because they are having trouble seeing where they are going.”
An Essex County Council spokesperson said: “Essex County Council has reduced the height of a number of street light columns in Colchester which were identified during routine structural and electrical testing as being structurally unsafe.
“To prevent the risk of collapse and ensure the highway remained safe for pedestrians and motorists, the decision was taken to ‘cut and cap’ the columns.
These will be replaced in due course.”
Comments(4)
Allan Whitehead
says...
11:06am Sun 7 Oct 12
Surely if these lights have been removed because they had become unsafe.
Was the Council acting in a truly responsible manner? Several questions need to be asked by the Councillors for the area that has been plunged into
Darkness. 1. When was the lights declared unsafe?
2. How much time elapsed between them being declared unsafe to their removal?
I suspect that knowing how long it takes the Council to respond to Council Tax payer complaints. That several weeks from inspection to removal had elapsed. If the Council had been a very caring Council, surely they would have notified the ward Councillors of the pending action prior to any removal-taking place. Councillor Paul Smith appears to hold a very prestige’s portfolio (Portfolio Holder for Business and Resources) and should have been aware of what was happening prior to any action being taken.
Any reasonable Councillor would have notified his constituents of any actions that would affect their area.
Allan Whitehead
says...
11:07am Sun 7 Oct 12
Surely if these lights have been removed because they had become unsafe.
Was the Council acting in a truly responsible manner? Several questions need to be asked by the Councillors for the area that has been plunged into
Darkness. 1. When was the lights declared unsafe?
2. How much time elapsed between them being declared unsafe to their removal?
I suspect that knowing how long it takes the Council to respond to Council Tax payer complaints. That several weeks from inspection to removal had elapsed. If the Council had been a very caring Council, surely they would have notified the ward Councillors of the pending action prior to any removal-taking place. Councillor Paul Smith appears to hold a very prestige’s portfolio (Portfolio Holder for Business and Resources) and should have been aware of what was happening prior to any action being taken.
Any reasonable Councillor would have notified his constituents of any actions that would affect their area.
Allan Whitehead
says...
11:10am Sun 7 Oct 12
xxxdave says...
1:14pm Sat 6 Oct 12