Biggleswade resident demands action as London Road left ‘in darkness’

Simon Turner, 59, told the Chronicle he first raised the problem on November 25, and made two further reports, but alleges that his concerns have been “fobbed off and ignored”.

When the initial complaint was made Simon says that there were 15 unlit lights on London Road (between Saxon Drive and the A1 roundabout) but that now roughly 20 are not working.

Simon claimed: “Frankly, the council has let the residents of Biggleswade down.

“It makes the town seem uncared for and neglected by the council, especially given this is the main road in and out of Biggleswade.

“Their poor service was highlighted by the Biggleswade Chronicle just six months ago and seemingly nothing has improved.”

On November 8, the Chronicle reported Central Bedfordshire Councillor Hayley Whitaker’s concerns that illuminated street lights were not working in a number of areas, including illuminated signs on London Road and street lights at the Saxon Drive/ London Road roundabout.

However, despite her notcing that they were starting to fix the London Road issue in November, Cllr Whitaker confirmed that some of the London Road street lights she reported then are still not working. At the time, CBC told the Chronicle that it had been out a number of times to repair any broken lights.

A Central Bedfordshire Council spokeswoman, said: “We would like to apologise that it took a long time to resolve this issue. Streetlights don’t necessarily belong to us and it took some time in this instance to establish who owns this particular set.

“We have clarified that we have adopted these lights and the work has now been scheduled. We have kept the initial resident as up-to-date and will continue to do so.

“We are grateful to residents who take the time to report any broken light to us.”

The spokeswoman noted that there are street lights belonging to CBC, the developer and Highways England along the stretch of road.