Lengthy delays in fixing broken street lights in Kirklees is putting local residents and properties at risk, it has been claimed.
Statistics have shown that the average time taken by Kirklees Council to repair street lights in the borough that have been reported as faulty is 11 days.
The national average is seven days.
The figures were revealed after an investigation by the Liberal Democrats.
Faulty street lights were reported on 7,136 occasions. Currently, there are more than 150 across Kirklees #awaiting repair.
Kirklees’ Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Clr Nicola Turner (Colne Valley), said the council was “failing to do even the most basic job of keeping the lights on”.
She called on the Labour-run authority to do more to safeguard homes and people.
“Local streets [are] plunged into darkness in the early evening through the winter. It is a gift to criminals and a threat to public safety.
“Street lights are important to help cut crime, reduce the risk of road accidents and reassure people walking home at night.”
Clr Turner added that the use of LED and low-energy bulbs would save money and help protect the environment.
It follows the council’s announcement that it would be installing 30,000 LED street lights - which use as little as 35% of the energy of traditional street lights - with dimming technology until 2020.
“LED lighting is more expensive up-front when compared to traditional street lighting but the energy use is much lower, so it results in savings over time. The cost of maintenance is also lower. I hope that the council will continue to install more LED street lighting.”
Calderdale Council has already begun replacing old low-pressure sodium lamps with LED, or light-emitting diode, lights.
The four-year project will involve the replacement of 11,000 lighting columns and 19,000 ‘lanterns’ on existing columns.
The council currently spends £1.3m powering the street lights each year, and their carbon dioxide emissions cost the council £50,000.
It is estimated the new energy-efficient LED street lighting, which sends most light down to the roadway, could save up to £900,000 a year in energy costs and other savings.
A Kirklees Council spokesperson said: “The council has over 52,00 streetlights and have agreed funding of £12.5m to upgrade the street lighting stock to LED over 5 years.
"The council has invested £2.6m this year as part of the programme to convert these to LED. So far approximately 20,000 street lights have already been converted to LED.
"This investment is saving over 50% of the energy used compared to a more traditional streetlight and reducing the number of repairs needed to keep the streetlights working.
"The backlog of repairs is about at its highest at this time of year with a repair time of about 10 days and currently number of streetlights awaiting repair is less than 1% of the total number.
"However our repair teams and Northern Power Grid are working hard to get all the lights working again."
