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'Street light left on for nearly six weeks'

10:00am Sunday 29th July 2007

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ANGRY Wycombe resident Jack Wilkins has slammed council officials after a street light was left on all day for more than five weeks, writes Ann-Marie Canavan.

The retired publisher, pictured above, who has lived in Havenfield Road for more than ten years, is furious that nothing has been done to fix the light.

The 75-year-old said: "The light has been on day and night for almost six weeks and I tried to get the council to do something about it.

"My main concern is that with all this information about carbon footprints and emissions, the light has just been left to waste energy.

"Someone needs to be responsible for this and do something about it. It is just diabolical."

Mr Wilkins said the warden-controlled area had the reverse problem a while ago when a street light in Havenfield Road was left off for three weeks before being fixed.

He added: "It really is just such a waste, you hear of council taxes going up so why can't something like this be fixed.

"I just want to see the lights on at the appropriate time"

Mr Wilkins, a grandad-of-six, added that when he first called Wycombe District Council (WDC) about the problem he was told that it was a matter for Buckinghamshire County Council.

But on Tuesday the Free Press discovered the light did actually belong to WDC and over the weekend it had been switched off.

Becky Wotherspoon, WDC spokesman, said: "The majority of streetlights within the Wycombe district are managed by Buckinghamshire County Council, however, a small amount are the responsibility of either the town or parish councils or Wycombe District Council. As this particular light is on a housing footpath it is the responsibility of Wycombe District Council.

"We would like to apologise to this resident for the delay in dealing with this problem. A contractor will be visiting the site tomorrow (July 25) to carry out the repairs required."

She urged people to take a note of broken streetlights' numbers (on the column) and to report their location.


Your Say YourBucks Free Press

Ivor, says...
2:50pm Sun 29 Jul 07

But on Tuesday the Free Press discovered the light did actually belong to WDC and over the weekend it had been switched off.
More of our precious Council Tax money wasted!

Surely WDC must have a plan showing the street lights they control? So why didn’t they know it was one of their lights in the first place?

Sue L, Hazlemere says...
4:44pm Sun 29 Jul 07

what is the point in reporting a street light left on when no one does anything about it, typical of WDC!

Marmite, HW says...
12:06pm Mon 30 Jul 07

This is appalling. I was nearly physically sick reading this story. I'm now shaking with rage as I type this. Is there some sort of petition we can start and take it to our local MP. I want this raised in the House of Commons. I think the person responsible for this horrific mistake at the WDC should be sacked immediately and issue a public apology.

Merge in Turn, says...
4:14pm Mon 30 Jul 07

Well it's a more dramatic headline than "Cat stuck up tree". I wonder why the local ASBOs didn't offer to smash the light to help the distressed residents. At least with another light being off for 3 weeks WDC would say they had received on average the correct amount of light.

Lividov, Marlow says...
3:47pm Tue 31 Jul 07

£20 per annum to keep on - probably about 50 quid to turn it off.

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