‘Street light failings are endangering children’, warns Sinn Féin Councillor

Sinn Féin Councillor Terry Hearty has called on Transport NI to address the huge number of broken streetlights across South Armagh.

“There are a high number of broken streetlights across South Armagh but particularly in the Crossmaglen, Culloville and Creggan areas,” he told Newry Times.

“This cannot simply be dismissed as an issue of resources as it relates to people’s safety on the roads and sense of security in their homes.

“For example there is street lighting out on the Culloville Road, where dozens of local children attend a youth club in the evening and at night, many of them walking to it. There is also street lighting out on the Dundalk Road, where more of children walk to school on dark winter mornings.

“Now this cannot be fobbed off with excuses about resources, these are serious issues about the safety of our young people and the rights of our elderly residents to feel secure in their own homes,” he insisted.

“Like so many of the other problems in the area this all comes back to a woefully inadequate maintenance programme from the department over the last few years. It has now gotten so bad and there are that many lights out that Transport NI will simply not be able to catch up with the work that needs done.

Hearty added, “I am calling on the Department to use the additional funding they have received to install a team of contractors in the area to work specifically on fixing street lighting, much like I have asked them to do in regards to the roads.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Feb 19 2016. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry