Broken streetlights in St Albans still not fixed

Promised repairs to broken streetlights for a St Albans car park plunged into darkness every evening have still not been completed.

The majority of lights in the car park on Cairnes Close, behind Highfield Park, have been off since February, and neighbouring residents described it as a “crime scene waiting to happen”, and say they feel unsafe outside their homes after dark.

Home Group, who own the housing and car park, sent an electrician to fix the fault last week (March 22) but residents say the worker only turned on one of about 15 lights which have gone out.

A disabled resident, Stuart James, said he has lost confidence the issue will ever be sorted: ”In the past it has taken a year to get something small done, and as big a problem as this - they have a history of this.

“It’s absolutely an accident waiting to happen and I don’t feel safe at all because the lighting is completely gone in one end.

“As soon as you drive in it feels so dark.”

Colney Heath St Albans district councillor Chris Brazier described it as dangerous and has been trying to pressure Home Group to sort it out: “It’s totally wrong to leave the lights so long off and unsafe - it’s leaving their tenants unprotected.

“I think they are probably going to delay it a little further, because it is getting lighter [in the evening].”

He believes it has taken Home Group this long because they are shopping around for the best quote to do the work.

A Home Group spokesman apologised for the inconvenience: “On inspection we discovered the units were outdated and replacement parts not readily available.

“We’re looking at options on how best to fix this and once we have a date we’ll inform customers.”