Update on Hesleden and Blackhall street lighting issues

We met again earlier this week with senior members and officers at county hall to impress on them the importance of reinstating street lighting in parts of our ward (previous posts dated 5 December 2012, 19 December 2012, 4 February 2013, 6 February 2013, 2 August 2013, 4 September 2013, 4 October 2013, 27 August 2014 & 18 September 2014 give an in-depth background to this long-running matter).

We have published below a short note of the meeting which sets out the current position along with an indication of our next steps:

By the way, every little bit of public support we receive helps with our campaign so if you feel particularly strongly about this matter you should contact the county's senior street lighting engineer John Reed on: john.reed@durham.gov.uk and express your concerns directly to him. Please remember to copy us both in to any correspondence.

We met on Monday 17 November 2014 with relevant cabinet members and John Reed to discuss the possibility of reinstating the street lighting to the highways connecting some of the villages in our ward. The following is a brief summary of the outcome:

To begin with the council reiterated its position that the Street Lighting & Energy Reduction Policy (SLERP) cannot and will not be amended

·        We asked if the council could confirm that, in considering local circumstances (those we have previously set out in other posts on this site), there could be flexibility in the policy to allow for reinstatement of street lighting in some areas. We were told that there was no flexibility as the policy was focused on meeting a pre-agreed level of savings to off-set overall central government imposed budget cuts of £225million over a 5-year period

·         We have asked for a breakdown of costs which would be incurred if we were to try to reinstate lighting in limited areas (the road linking Blackhall Rocks with High Hesleden, consisting of 15 lighting standards, is the area that has been the subject of a huge majority of calls to us). We were given an estimate of £1,500 per lighting column, plus ongoing revenue costs of approximately £70 per column per year. Initially John Reed insisted that future revenue costs would have to be paid up front to cover a 60 year period!

·         We disputed these costs (both capital and revenue) and appeared to gain some ground though the council will still insist on front loaded revenue payments albeit over a much reduced period of time

·         John Reed agreed to meet with us on-site within the next week or so (diaries permitting) to discuss our proposals further. Realistically we must accept that street lighting on the B1281 from Hesleden to the Hardwicke Hall and the road linking Hesleden with High Hesleden is not likely to be be reinstated, at least for the time being. This follows repeated cable thefts in these areas over a number of years. The council insists that the cost of replacing cables and installing lighting to these areas is extremely prohibitive at the best of times, let alone in times of austerity due to government imposed cuts to local government budgets

·         We have asked for a realistic breakdown of costs associated with a scheme to reinstate street lighting on the road between Blackhall Rocks and High Hesleden and we will expect a fair figure to be presented, given the potential costs (social and financial) of isolation to residents in our villages if the lights remain out. From that position we will set out to identify any suitable funding stream which we may be able to use to fund a scheme to return street lighting in our ward.