Forums Forums Wirral Information Wirral Council Wirral Street Lights - Fail

Because Rock Park is a Conservation area, then the street lighting has to be replaced with like for like. I lived down there for a few years until early last year, and at night I didnt feel safe walking home because that many lights were out.
I reported one that was not working just outside our flat, and it took them over 6 months to repair it!
The guys who eventually repaired it said that its not cast iron that they use now, its just standard metal designed and painted to look authentic as the cast ones were prone to being stolen!

ps. there are a number of social housing properties down there now too, so not sure if its still classed as a private park now?

Sorry Lynda. You have been misinformed. I tested them with a magnet, and they are made of galvanised cast steel or iron - at least the columns are. The cost is roughly the same for either, and in fact the chemical composition and method of fabrication is pretty similar.

The supplier is DW Windsor, and I guess they get them made at a foundry. They are coy about prices but I reckon they cost (including lantern) around £1,000 to £1,500 (Plus installation).

I agree that the lighting there was poor, and needed improvement, but conservation area or not, the new lamp-posts replaced much cheaper and far less grand aluminium ones dating from before the road was adopted by the Council. It appears the trust are more prepared to waive conservation rules when THEY are paying than when we are!

It is still very much a private park, and it was thanks to a councillor who lives there that the roads were eventually adopted, and every house was given a set of top-of-the range railings. Rock Park has done very well out of us in recent years. It is only a matter of time before the esplanade is adopted too, relieving them of the cost of maintaining it. It is currently in a very poor condition, and will cost us a fortune to repair properly!

One thing I WOULD support, is LED lighting in these new lampposts. I would imagine it not too difficult to simulate the wavering light from gas lamps pretty accurately, and they would cost less to run too.

Wirral Council have just fixed one in Redstone Rise Noctorum/Bidston----how do I know---because they have stuck a notice on it to say so. Another waste of money.

typical.

Here is picture of a street light getting fixed that was reported last year.And it is still broken,stays on all day and night.

Any one noticed even when LED lamps have been fitted they are still not working!

They changed Liscard road over to LED's months ago and the very night they were switched on, the lights either side of Parkside didn't work. That's a junction almost in total darkness. I rang Street Scene to report it and was told that they no longer have a facility to report street lamps that aren't working.
Wonderful!
Now that's progress.

The New Ferry bypass remains a patchwork of orange, white and black. A lot of the newly installed LEDs remain in darkness.

I think the idea of controlling them by radio is overcomplicated, overexpensive, and unreliable.

The old light sensing ones are simple and dirt cheap - they are basically a light dependent resistor and a thermal relay - and they work well. I imagine any cost savings by turning the LED lights down or off in the wee small hours is offset by the cost and maintenance of the infrastructure needed to do it.

There is a well tried and tested engineering principle with the acronym 'KISS'. It stands for "Keep It Simple, Stupid". The simplest solution that meets the requirement is the best one.

Years back, I was a regular visitor (on business) to a very charming village in Bucks. I stayed in the local pub and got to know the place quite well. Although the street lights on the passing main road were illuminated, those in the village itself were all non-operational. I asked once why this was so in the pub bar, and was told that they had been installed some years back largely on the insistence of one very local 'incomer' (new resident).

There was an official switch on, and everyone was delighted until the newly illuminated village was the victim of a series of burglaries. It seemed that the light had made things easy for various criminals to steal things from the gardens, and sometimes the houses, and take off without tripping over rose bushes etc. After a month or two, a petition to have them removed was presented to the Parish Council. This was a bit of an embarrassment to them, having just requested their installation, but they agreed to remove the fuses from them so they all went out.

Personally, I found it rather pleasant. You could see the stars, and there was usually enough starlight or moonlight to see your way, and the occasional glow through a curtained window gave the place a nice cosy and safe air.

I often think that these IR switched security lights are counterproductive. Fortunately with the massive number of switching cycles the bulbs last no time and the owners eventually get fed up with replacing them, and blessed darkness returns.

At one time you could e mail the council with faults in the road, streetlights out etc, explaining what the fault is in greater detail, then they got rid of the staff manning the hotlines, and changed the website so can only report faults within 15 words or less, something like that, gone was the choice where you could e mail some deptment,
And i think they have made a tits job of these lights, and don't know how to fix it, my lights have been off since November by me, and on some nights the whole area comes on, then an hour or two later there all off.
But if you are fed up asking the council get on to your local MP and ask nicely, 9 out 10 the problem will get sorted, which i will be doing soon.
As for me, I must be on the Councils "Oh not him again list!"
The number of roads i have had fixed, pothole filled, manhole covers lifted, diesel fuel spills, traffic lights speeded up when takes for ever to change, pavements reflagged, missing signs replaced, and once more left off the Queens Birthday honours list!

Well done!

I'll nominate you next time