FIGURES uncovered by Bradford Green Party reveal that the average time taken for Bradford Council to replace street lights has trebled to over a month.

A Freedom of Information Request showed that in Shipley Ward, the average time to replace a faulty light in 2017 was 15 days - in 2018 this figure had jumped to 34 days.

In Tong Ward - which covers some of the main roads out of the south side of the city - this had more than trebled from 14 days in 2017 to 45 in 2018.

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A similar request last year revealed that huge differences in the average time taken to repair faulty street lights existed across Bradford district.

Matt Edwards, Campaign Co-ordinator for Bradford District, said: “Over the last year, people have told us that they have seen the time to repair faulty street lights get longer and longer and these figures prove that.

“Street lights are an important first line of defence against anti-social behaviour and make our roads safer. Especially in winter, some people rely on street lights to get about safely and it’s not good enough that some street lights are taking months to be replaced.

“We hoped that the information we uncovered last year would be an eye opener for the Council but since then things have gotten worse.”

Councillor Kevin Warnes (Green, Shipley) added: “People in Shipley tell us they are disappointed that, despite large increases in Council Tax over the last few years, frontline services including street light maintenance have deteriorated so badly.

“We know that central government cuts have been so severe that Bradford Council is having to choose which vital services it funds. However, street lights are a vital defence against crime and need to be higher up the priority list than they are now.

“We are glad that Bradford Council is finally replacing the existing lights with LED units that are not only far cheaper to run and will last significantly longer, and will also cut our carbon footprint.”

A report to Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee earlier this year recommended the LED street light replacement programme.

According to the report: “The project has been assessed over a 50 year period with modest inflation applied to the costs of energy which is projecting a total saving in energy of £166.5 million along with a maintenance saving of £23.6m giving a total saving of £189.13m over 50 years.”

A Bradford Council spokesperson, said: “The council is upgrading the district’s obsolete and ageing orange street lights with new smart LED technology delivering significant energy, environmental and financial benefits.

“However, upgrading the street light to accept LED bulbs, while necessary, increases the repair time and some lanterns require replacement which is even more time consuming.

“We’re working hard all year round repairing street lights as quickly as possible but sometimes the repair is the responsibility of Northern Powergrid. These more complicated repairs take much longer than our own.

“Under the council’s Smart Street Lighting project, 59,000 lights will be upgraded using the latest LEDs saving around £2m per year in energy costs.

“The new lights will be more environmentally friendly reducing the council’s street lighting power consumption by 65% and its carbon emissions by over 6,000 tonnes per year. The LEDs will provide much better illumination than traditional street lights, making it safer for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians.

“They require significantly less maintenance - each lantern will last around six times longer than the old bulbs which will stop being produced in 2020.

“The new lights are half the price to maintain and even report themselves when faulty reducing the need for time consuming audits and street lighting reporting systems.”