Faulty street lights beside a Helensburgh primary school are the responsibilities of different departments, a council official has said.
Cllr Ian MacQuire told a council committee that a constituent had reported issues with lighting near and within Colgrain Primary School for several years.
But Jim Smith, Argyll and Bute Council’s head of roads and amenity services, said lighting columns within the school were the responsibility of a different department.
That led the council’s leader and executive director to question whether the authority was taking ‘a one-council approach’ to dealing with the problem.
The discussion took place at a meeting of the council’s environment, development and infrastructure committee on Thursday.
Cllr MacQuire said: “I had an email from a constituent asking about street lights. He lives on the access road to Colgrain Primary School and has reported it several times.
“One of the lights is within the school itself and he has been told it is not the responsibility of the roads and lighting team, so whose responsibility is it?”
Mr Smith responded: “Roads and infrastructure, as a general rule, will pick up lighting on the road network. If it is on a council estate, that would usually fall under property services. I will ensure that is passed on.
“There are a lot of lights out across the whole of Argyll and Bute, and some fall within the responsibility of housing, for example as soon as we have lights out in the car park here at Kilmory.”
Council leader Robin Currie remarked: “That does not really strike me as a one-council approach.”
Mr Smith said: “It is a one-council approach, but just different areas of responsibility. It is just so that we do not over-budget the roads areas, and we have electrical teams in property who will fix external lighting.”
Kirsty Flanagan, the council’s executive director, added: “The response is not as ideal is it could have been. I have not seen the response but it should have been dealt with by a one-council approach.”
Cllr MacQuire then said: “The man says it has been reported over three or four years.”
Meanwhile, another Helensburgh councillor has asked about the possibility of wi-fi being installed in replacement street lighting columns.
Math Campbell-Sturgess is not on that committee, but his SNP colleague Jan Brown asked the question on his behalf.
She said: “As we are putting in columns and all the wiring, was there any possibility of wi-fi cables being put in at the same time, reducing the amount of money and time needed?”
Mr Smith said: “We can certainly look at that and pick it up with Fergus Murray’s (head of economic growth) team, who deal with internet infrastructure, to see what opportunities there are.
“It is probably worth noting that we have some interest from an international company wishing to move forward with a proposal to install electric charging points on some street lighting columns.
“That presents some challenges, but we will look at that with due diligence. I also know that wi-fi is something being looked at in Oban, but the roll-out of 4G and 5G has superseded that in some areas.”
I have been reporting failing lights in Colquhoun Square as a resident and Community Councillor since last January. Apparently parts are needed we are now heading for dark nights again so let’s hope they are fixed. It is frustrating to report faults and get no feedback other than it can’t be done. Surely this needs to dealt with properly. When I watched and listened to previous committee there were complaints from both Oban and CAMPBELTOWN on the same issue.It has also been raised by new councillors since they were elected last May. It does I am afraid definitely seem to a shambles which someone needs to fix. Might I suggest the leader of the council!!!
“One of the lights is within the school itself and he has been told it is not the responsibility of the roads and lighting team…”
I assume they have telephones installed at A&B Council offices. Is it so difficult for the Roads & Lighting team to use them to alert the responsible team?