SSE AIRTRICITY REPS TOLD: ‘WICKLOW IS IN DARKNESS’
COUNCILLORS AIR FRUSTRATIONS AT MONTHLY MEETING
COUNCILLORS have vented their frustration with the timeframes for the repair of public lighting in the county.
During their March meeting, members voiced their concerns to representatives of SSE Airtricity Utility Solutions, which is responsible for the maintenance of street lights across the county.
Patrick Rooney, Head of Operations at SSE Airtricity Utility Solutions, told members that 1.7 per cent of the county’s 15,015 public lights had a fault, which is below the national average.
Forty-three per cent of the county’s street lights are sox lanterns which are no longer manufactured. They are being replaced with LEDs when a fault is identified. Around 35 lanterns are upgraded by crews working across the county each day. SSE Airtricity had 1,000 LEDs in storage to install as required in the county at no cost to the local authority until operational.
Mr Rooney added he didn’t believe a previous report of 700 faults in the county was accurate. He stated this number was affected by a number of factors, adding that council staff and SSE Airtricity use the same database.
Holding up a sox bulb for councillors to see, Mr Rooney said crews could replace between ten and 15 bulbs in these street lights a day in the past. This was no longer the case as .
SSE had worked with the council to identify a single point of contact for their concerns. The company was also enhancing reporting systems on its website.
Mr Rooney told members there were currently 254 faults to be repaired and of these, 56 were outside the control of SSE Airtricty. 2,926 sox lanterns had been replaced and 4,312 faults repaired in the last 13 months.
Councillor Gail Dunne (FF) said he had asked Airtricity to attend the meeting because ‘Wicklow is in darkness’.
A number of faults in Wicklow town had been reported three months ago, but were not fixed. He asked for a contact for councillors to be put in place, similar to a process used by councillors with Irish Water.
Cllr Dunne said there had been ‘poor effort in my time’ adding ‘only when it comes into the public, do you act’.
Cllr John Mullen (FF) indicated he had received a report from the Tinahely area engineer that 99 lights were out in this mainly rural area.
He added that new lights had been installed in Carnew in April 2019, but not turned on until January 2020.
Cllr Mullan described it as ‘illogical or bad management’ that SSE Airtricity crews could not address all faults in group of lights, if they were not on their work list.
Cllr Paul O’Brien (Lab) spoke of a ‘sense of frustration’ among councillors. Lights at Bachelor’s Walk in Wicklow Town had not been working since last September. ‘The not knowing factor is killing us because knowledge is power,’ he added.
Cllr Lourda Scott (Green) said she was ‘amazed’ at the volume of complaints she’d received about this issue during her first winter as a councillor.
Residents, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, are ‘feeling unsafe leaving their home’ in areas of Kilcoole when it is dark. She asked about the monitoring of SSE Airtricity’s performance and the agreed timeframes for repairs.
Cllr Tom Fortune (Ind) suggested there was ‘no rapport between SSE Airtricity and ESB’ with members’ concerns ‘passed from one to the other’.
Mr Rooney highlighted if cable faults were identified, this also caused delays to repairs.
Several councillors highlighted new street lights had been installed across the county, but there were long waits to switch them on.
Mr Rooney emphasised that the connection of the new lights was the ESB’s responsibility. He said there was a good working relationship between the two companies.
Thirty per cent of the county’s street lights were on ESB poles, which SSE Airtricity was not permitted to use, Mr Rooney explained.
The timeframe for the repair of a major fault or replacement of a sox lantern was 28 working days. Mr Rooney said he is ‘aware of the importance of lights’ and the company ‘take the job seriously’.
Cllr Vincent Blake (FG) noted that group of lights not working in an area causes difficulties for residents, who were concerned about the time taken to complete repairs.
Cllr Pat Fitzgerald (FF) suggested it was ‘a coincidence’ that there had been a ‘huge improvement’ in the number of faults in Arklow over the last four to six weeks. A ‘lack of night patrols’ may make it harder to identify issues.
Cllr Pat Kennedy (FF) welcomed the switch-on of new street lights in Rathdrum. He highlighted that there were a cluster of lights out on the Rednagh Road and invited SSE Airtricity to return in three months with a further update.
Cllr Mary Kavanagh (Ind) said the situation was ‘not acceptable. It’s got to the stage that this is one of the things I dread dealing with because it looks like we’re not doing our job. It’s embarrassing.’
Cllr Kavanagh noted that roads at night-time could be a safety issue for women, the elderly and other vulnerable road users.
‘You say you are doing as much as you can but to me, it could be more,’ she said.
Cllr Miriam Murphy (Ind) reported faults in the Arklow area that she was emailed during the meeting. The public are ‘paying property tax for services’, but feel ‘they are not getting them’, she said.
Cllr Gerry O’Neill (Ind) highlighted that lights in the Deerpark estate in Baltinglass were not working 18 months after they had been installed. He also raised an issue with public lighting in the Ballinastockin area of Blessington. Cllr O’Neill asked why SSE Airtricity did not use the existing timber poles for new lights.
Cllr Avril Cronin (FG) said there was an ‘urgent need’ for street lights in Deerpark. Some lights in Dunlavin had been out since before Christmas.
Mr Rooney noted that an increase in the volume of faults appeared to have been caused by people logging multiple issues on streets. He said the wooden poles are owned by the ESB and Airtricity can’t use them.
Mr Rooney said he would mention the issue of the connection of new lights to the ESB at their next meeting. Mr Rooney added that the company hopes to resolve priority cases wihtin ten days and suggested that councillors could escalate concerns if more than one light was out on a street.
Colm Lavery, Director of Services Transportation, Water and Emergency Services, said there may be ‘timing issue’. At the time of the last meeting, 700 faults were showing on the system while 310 faults were listed on the morning of the March meeting. The figures were fluid because the data changed as works took place.
Mr Lavery added at the time of the meeting, there were 105 faults in the Wicklow area, 59 in Baltinglass, 55 in Bray, 52 in Arklow and 39 in Greystones.
A further update is to be provided at the June meeting.