Problems with street lighting in Barrow will be discussed at the next meeting of Cumbria County Council’s cabinet on Wednesday, 29th June.
The discussion follows a request from the Barrow Local Committee for cabinet to find an extra £1.25 million to deal with long-term problems with lighting in the area.
Two reports to cabinet set out the nature and scale of the problem and point out that the high number of faults among Barrow’s 7,240 lighting columns stem from the poor condition of cables connecting much of the lighting stock to the electricity supply. Many of the cables are more than 40 years old and well past the end of their design life.
The reports shows that the Barrow area has the worst street lighting problems with cabling and looped supplies a particular issue and, with the ageing and deteriorating condition of lighting stock across the county, there is a need to investigate alternative sources of funding.
Councillor Alan Nicholson, chairman of Barrow Local Committee, said: "The local committee has asked cabinet to find the money needed to tackle the street lighting issue in Barrow.
"These reports highlight the street lighting problems being faced in Barrow. In parts of North and South Walney and North East Hawcoat as many as of 74 per cent of lighting columns are on a looped supply and we really need to sort this out for the sake of the community - we hope the cabinet will make this issue a priority."
Cabinet is being asked to consider providing extra funding for Barrow on the basis of the looped supply cabling problems on its lighting network and to investigate alternative sources of funding for street lighting in the county.
The cabinet meeting is being held at committee room two, The Courts, Carlisle, at 10am on Wednesday, 29th June.