How Long Does It Take the Council to Change a Lightbulb?

That's the question being put by two angry councillors representing Lickey End, after residents were left in the dark due to a lack of streetlight repairs.

Residents in Lickey End, Bromsgrove, have waited over A YEAR for a faulty streetlight to be repaired on a dangerous junction.

Highways operatives in Worcestershire are supposed to fix faulty street lights within 28 days according to the County Council's policy, but residents in Lickey End are furious after the Highways Department continually ignored their requests, which started back in July 2020.

Streetlight number 4983 is on the corner of the junction of the A38 and Grosvenor Gardens in Lickey End. Residents believe it is a particularly dangerous spot as it is located just after the busy junction of the A38 and Birmingham Road by the old Mount School. Motorists speed up after they have passed through the traffic lights without realising that there is another junction close by at Grosvenor Gardens where visibility is more restricted, a situation which they say has been made much worse by the lack of street lighting for over a year now.

Residents have found the situation particularly galling as whilst the council has repeatedly failed to act on their street light problem, it has been replacing functioning street lights en masse. In fact it boasts that it has installed 27,700 new environmentally friendly LED streetlights over the last 3 years.

Lib Dem District Councillor Rob Hunter who has submitted a formal complaint to Worcestershire County Council over the matter said: "I am appalled residents have been left in the dark for so long at this dangerous junction. Of course I totally support the council's move towards energy efficient street lighting, but it's outrageous that thousands of well-functioning streetlights have been replaced ahead of a much-needed repair on a dangerous junction in Lickey End. What do these residents have to do to get the council to take its responsibilities towards road safety seriously?"

Councillor Josh Robinson whose Central Division covers Lickey End on Worcestershire County Council, which is responsible for streetlights, has also been left frustrated after speaking to officers about the problem. He added "I know the Highways Team are under an awful lot of pressure, but I have emphasised that I really would like to see this repair prioritised as soon as possible now. We really must get this sorted before the nights start drawing in again and the junction becomes even more dangerous."