“Were it not for local residents’ Christmas lights, the Ards Peninsula would almost be in darkness”, says Portferry SDLP Councillor Joe Boyle.
Ards and North Down Borough Councillor Joe Boyle is to raise with the Department for Infrastructure’s Street Lighting Southern Division grave concerns as to the number of Street Lights, across the towns and villages in the Ards Peninsula that are not currently functioning.
SDLP Councillor Joe Boyle is concerned at the state of lighting in the Ards Peninsula.
He said: “Constituents from all towns and villages in the Ards Peninsula have been contacting me with this problem, with many experiencing street lighting issues for many months, even xa0after the faults have been reported.
“We need to get to the bottom of the problem quickly, and further, we need an explanation as to what the policy, priority and process is at the minute with reference to the overall position and structure in place for the maintenance programme in place to the repairing of these street lights.
“Many of the street lights currently that are working serve as a great comfort to our pensioners and vulnerable residents living on their own. And for the street lights near to their homes that are NOTxa0 working, many for a prolongedxa0 for a prolonged period, causes them great concern and fear.
“We have another darker side to this problem if you excuse the pun, that there have been street lights that have npot been functioning for been functioning many months into years.
“Lights are out too in back entries and where sets of steps are sited in housing developments. This is also very worrying for local residents from a Health and Safety aspect and it helps promote the noticeable increases in anti-social behavioural activity that hav been occurring.”
Councillor Boyle added: “The Ards Peninsula is particularly affected by so many dysfunctioing lights. Were it not for the Christmas period and the additional lighting in many forms and guises that this brings to many homes and businesses the Ards Peninsula would practically be in darkness.
“As an Ards Peninsula representative I find this totally and wholly unacceptable. The Department has questions to answer and the people living in the Ards Peninsula deserve answers.”
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