Anger over series of street light failures

GREENFAULDS residents say aged streetlights have led to dangerous blackouts in the area.
Lorraine Forrest and dad John Rollo.Lorraine Forrest and dad John Rollo.
Lorraine Forrest and dad John Rollo.

Lorraine Forrest (46), of Melrose Road, told the News her father had been injured as a direct result of these issues.

She said: “There are problems here two or three times per year when the street lights fail to work and these interruptions mean the area is pitch dark at night for weeks on end. It’s especially bad for more vulnerable people.

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“My 66-year-old dad, John Rollo, fell down stairs while walking his dog and hurt his hip, knees and back and needed to take painkillers.

“And a neighbour down from me has three stairs leading down from her front door that she’s terrified to go down in the dark. With the amount of time we’re having to wait for lighting repairs it’s simply not on.”

The most recent lighting problem was fixed last week, but Lorraine feels the council response is simply inadequate. “The lights were out for four weeks and I phoned the council to complain countless times.”

Lorraine added that she believed the root cause of the problem was the age of the street lights, a claim we took to the local authority.

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Willie Collie, senior lighting engineer for North Lanarkshire Council, told the News and Chronicle: “There was a recent fault in a section of lighting in Melrose Road, which has now been repaired. The average life of street lighting lamps of the type installed in this area is around two to three years, and our maintenance records for faults over the last two years are in line with this and with similar areas in Cumbernauld. Over the last number of years a considerable amount of lighting renewal works have been carried out in the Cumbernauld area and this ongoing programme will continue in line with available funding.”