BCP Council street lighting hit by supply issues from China

A backlog of faults has stacked up across the conurbation with hundreds of reports yet to even be looked at.

At the end of January there 734 faults awaiting parts and a further 703 reports which were still to be assessed by BCP Council’s contractor.

The situation with broken street lights was raised by Bearwood and Merley ward councillor David Brown at a recent full council meeting.

BCP Council’s website says once reported it normally takes 10 days to fix an issue related to a street light, however, it warns there is currently a shortage of certain components worldwide, which was affecting repairs.

• Read more: BCP Council leader says some street lights could be turned off

Cllr Brown said in many cases it was now been more than a year since faults were initially reported.

Cllr David Brown, ward councillor for Bearwood and Merley (Image: BCP Council)

In asking Cllr Mike Greene what was being done to address the delays, Cllr Brown said: “During these dark winter nights it has left a lot of sections of highways, cycleways, roads, pathways and park areas in darkness, particularly concerning is areas subject to anti-social behaviour where the maintenance of good lighting is essential.”

Cabinet member Cllr Greene said: “There have ongoing issues with the supply chain for the electronic components for street lights since the pandemic as most of these originate from China.

“These issues are out of the council’s control and we have been awaiting for some time the arrival of electronic drivers, which are currently in very high demand and equally short supply.

“Like other councils we have been receiving these items in small quantities.

“We ordered about a thousand lanterns which were eventually delivered at the end of January and this has enabled some faults to be rectified more quickly.

“The team has been liaising with our contractor to get extra resources in to catch up now that the lanterns are available.

“At the end of January, the team reported that there were a total of 1,437 faults across the conurbation, 734 of which were awaiting parts. The remainder were faults that were yet to be looked at but the contractor was working through these.”

Cllr Greene said updated figures from February 17 showed there were 1,139 outstanding faults, with 374 repaired over the last week alone and 76 new reports.

“This hopefully demonstrates that as and when the parts come in, the contractor is making good progress,” Cllr Greene added.

Cllr Brown asked if the council could look into prioritising areas subject to anti-social behaviour, even if it meant “cannibalising” other streetlights from regular highways.

Cllr Greene said he would pass on the recommendation to officers and the relevant portfolio holder.