Action pays off as faulty village lights are to be turned off (From Wiltshire Times)

Action pays off as faulty village lights are to be turned off

5:10pm Saturday 4th February 2012 in Corsham By Craig Jones

A Colerne man is closer to winning his battle to have three street lights that have been on non-stop for more than a year switched off.

John Hipkin, 82, of Cherry Road, has repeatedly reported the issue with the lights on the Southwood Estate to Wiltshire Council but they have not been repaired.

Last week, Wiltshire Council finally sent out a team to the estate to investigate the problem and repaired one of the faulty lights in Poplar Way.

Mr Hipkin, who has lived on the estate for more than 15 years, said: “I’m very impressed the council has finally come out to see the problem – in little over a year too, that isn’t bad at all.

“I contacted the Wiltshire Times to help with this problem after reporting the lights to the council on numerous occasions and nothing being done. I’m very pleased that contacting the paper has now borne fruit.”

There are still faulty street lights running all day on the north side of the estate, including two which have not turned off since Christmas, but Wiltshire Council has said the maintenance for those lamps is provided by the Ministry of Defence, which used to own the homes on the estate.

An MoD spokesman said: “Our maintenance contractor provides a 24-hour helpline to report faults but they have not received any reports about the street lighting in Colerne. However, we will be investigating this matter now that it has been brought to our attention.”

Wiltshire Council said it will be sending out another maintenance team to the estate at night to make sure the repaired light is still working. They also agreed that two of their lights in Pinewood Way were still faulty and that a maintenance team will repair them soon.

Mr Hipkin said: “It is interesting that the maintenance is split between the military and the council. The military obviously haven’t felt responsible for looking after their lights in the past but hopefully now they’ll come out and repair them.”

Anyone wishing to report the pole numbers and street names of faulty street lights, can call Wiltshire Council on 0800 232 323.