AQW 1075/17-22

Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim

Tabled Date: 28/01/2020
Answered On Date: 12/02/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail (i) how many streetlights are currently awaiting (a) repair; or (b) replacement in East Antrim, and (ii) what action will be taken to address the backlog.

Answer:

I understand the concerns of the public affected by street light outages and am working with my Department to address this issue as quickly as possible. Unfortunately as a result of severe budget cuts the Department has had to restrict the street lighting maintenance service across Northern Ireland. As a result, outages are taking longer than usual, and much longer than I would like, to be repaired. I can assure the Member that priority is being given to hazardous electrical defects and group outages and that my officials are doing all that they can, within available budgets, to complete other repairs in as timely a fashion as possible.

There are currently 3913 street lighting outages reported in Northern Division, which includes the East Antrim area.