This is despite our insistence during the recent consultation exercise that lights should not be removed in our area (please see post dated 4 September 2013 for details of our objections).
Earlier this year, along with the parish clerk, we met with lighting engineers from county hall to discuss the council's street lighting policy and how it might affect our area. The policy, which is largely driven by unprecedented central government cuts to local council budgets, suggests that street lighting in rural areas may be removed "where it is safe to do so."
We suggested that because of particular circumstances in our ward lights should not be removed or switched off because to do so would be unsafe to walkers and motorists alike (please also see posts dated 4 October 2013, 4 September 2013, 2 August 2013, 6 February 2013, 4 February 2013, 19 December 2012 & 5 December 2012 for background details and our past representations on this matter).
To support our position we raised concerns about the following issues:
- there is a history of accidents, some fatal, on the road between the Hardwicke Hall Hotel and Hesleden and also the road connecting Hesleden to High Hesleden
- the potential for adverse weather conditions to affect road safety in this area, especially low-lying sea mist veiling the roads and heavy rain leading to flooding. We cited recent examples of floods on Mickle Hill Road and on the B1281 at Hardwicke Hall
- the lack of any connecting bus services, especially on the B1281 between Hesleden and Blackhall Colliery. We drew the council's attention to the fact that there are very strong social and family links between Blackhall and Hesleden and expressed our concern that removing street lights in these areas would effectively isolate many of our residents
- we fought hard to have the Black Path resurfaced two years ago. This was to encourage people to exercise whilst maintaining links between villages but this is of little use if the roads to either side are now to be in darkness
Because of the reasons outlined above we said that we were opposed to any street light removals in our ward, although we did acknowledge that the council has been backed into a corner by severe budget cuts imposed by central government.
Before the meeting with lighting engineers ended we asked for, and were given, assurances that we would be contacted again about any subsequent proposals for street light removals before any works took place. Unfortunately this has not happened.
Today we have contacted senior officers of the county council to express our anger and disappointment that either our concerns have been completely ignored or, at best, misrepresented. We have also asked that any further street lighting removals be stopped with immediate effect to allow for further negotiations aimed at retaining lighting between our villages.
We will update on developments as soon as we have a response from county hall.
