'Third parties' to blame says council as broken street lights in Leighton Buzzard still not fixed a year later

Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) says delays to fixing broken street lights and pedestrian crossings in Leighton Buzzard are often out of their hands.

Concerned resident Heather Copley says the problems have been reported – some up to three times – on the website Fix my Street, but repairs have yet to take place.

Ms Copley said: “All these have been reported by different members of the public and have been logged but, despite the risks they pose, they are not fixed. The issue goes beyond broken street lights and includes damaged zebra crossings and road signs – fundamentally the system seems to be as broken at CBC Highways as their infrastructure. The general public are encouraged to report faults online but then nothing happens.”

But the council says problems were often referred to a contractor or third party and needed chasing, meaning issues may not be fixed in the timescale of 28 days which is suggested in the council’s street light guidance.

Among the issues raised were:

• Pedestrian crossing on Vandyke Road – this was first reported in July, again in August and again last week. Council response: This report has been passed over to Luton Council, as CBC has an agreement with its contractor who fixes broken or damaged crossings and traffic signals in the CBC area.
• Two broken lights on Summer Street – the lights were first reported in 2022 and again in October. Council response: These lights require underground cabling to be replaced. The council’s contractor is currently looking at costings for these works to go ahead.
• Lake Street Zebra crossing – the streetlight designed to illuminate the zebra is not working and both beacons on the central island are out of action. This was reported in early November. Council response: They have attended the site, and the crossing has been made safe until it can be fixed.
• Lammas Walk – light in darkness near the bungalows. Council response: It has reported the light to UK Power Network as a dead service.
• A bollard at the top of South Street overhanging the highway. Council response: It has raised an order to have this bollard replaced.

A spokeswoman said: “We will always respond to reports of faulty streetlights and prioritise repair depending on safety.

Often, we have to refer the actual repair to a contractor or other third party. Where that is the case, we will continue to monitor progress and chase, as necessary.

“The Highways Service manage circa 24,000 streetlights, and each year we inspect one sixth of these for electrical and structural safety, including the expected life of each column. This cyclical approach ensures we change those most in need and will cover the whole county efficiently and economically.”

She added broken streetlights outside of this process are added to works orders for inspection followed by repair. Often this would require more than a new bulb and input from bodies such as UKPN.

The council assures it is working to replace old streetlights with LEDs which have a much lower failure rate, and systems for automating fault reporting.