Street lights tour for council officer
A council officer will be given a tour of faulty street lights after it was revealed that a parish council missed out on funding to maintain them.
Councillor Steve Davenport, Shropshire Council member for St Martins, near Oswestry and cabinet member for highways, said he would give Shropshire Council streets lights officer Jason Hughes a tour of villages around Ellesmere.
It comes after it was revealed that street lights on main roads in villages near the town are to be taken down after the parish council was refused a grant from a housebuilding fund.
Ellesmere Rural Parish Council is spending £38,000 on footway lighting improvements and applied to extend the project to bring the lighting on the A495 Ellesmere to Whittington Road at Welsh Frankton and the B5068 Ellesmere to St Martins road at Dudleston Heath.
But Shropshire Council turned down its application for funding.
Now Councillor Davenport says he has organised a walk around the proposed sites at night to show council bosses the issue.
“I am meeting with the council’s head of street lights Jason Hughes about this and will be taking him on a walk around the area to show him the problems.
“The council wanted Shropshire Council to spend Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money on the project but it was turned down.
“This CIL money is being spent on several local good projects however.
“Many rural parish councils have spent their money on the street lights but the rural parish council feels it has to hand them over or stop them.
“I will do all I can to present the situation to Jason and then will report back to the parish council with what he suggests.”
Councillor Davenport said both sites are close to where new homes have recently been built.
He said it would help safety along the stretches of road.
Councillors say the costly footway lighting provided by the parish dates from the 1950s and 1960s and investing money in new LED lighting for key pedestrian areas would improve lighting and provide long-term savings.
Councillor Davenport added: “I am heavily involved in the 19,000 street lights switch to LED lighting across Shropshire and we have done 3,000 with 16,000 to go.
“It is a major project and I helped secure a £5 million grant towards this work.”