Scottish Power has been accused of a “lack of urgency” when called in on street light repairs in Renfrewshire – sparking calls for improvement from a fed-up politician.
Conservative councillor James MacLaren has claimed it can take up to six months for a fault to be addressed, which led to him raising concerns about the subject at a full council meeting.
The Bishopton, Bridge of Weir and Langbank representative gained support for a motion instructing the council to write to the energy company’s chief executive in a bid to “chase things along” when it is responsible for delays.
The motion, which was seconded by Conservative group leader Neill Graham, said: “Renfrewshire Council objects to the lack of urgency by Scottish Power to repair street lights once the repair has been passed to them by our street lighting team.
“Council will write to the chief executive of Scottish Power to express our concern and seeks an improvement in the time taken for repairs.”
Councillor MacLaren said after the meeting: “It can quite often be six months before a repair gets done.
“It’s quite a long period of no lighting and if the road or pavement you’re on has potholes on it, it’s not very easy to walk in the dark.
“As a result of this motion, the council will now be writing to Scottish Power’s chief executive to try and chase things along.
“Hopefully it will have a knock-on effect on our own street lighting teams, who need to pull the finger out and get the job done where they’re involved or report it quickly to Scottish Power.
“Generally, the council does the repairs but sometimes the cabling is owned by Scottish Power and they need to refer it to Scottish Power to fix.”
When contacted by the Paisley Daily Express, Scottish Power Energy Networks said it was “aware” of the issues raised and apologised for “any inconvenience caused”.
A company spokesperson said: “Our teams work hard to ensure necessary repairs are carried out swiftly and with as little disruption to the public as possible, however, we’re aware of the concerns raised and acknowledge there are instances where it’s taking longer than we would like to carry out the work.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are working to improve response times.
“Our operations team will meet with the local councillor to discuss next steps.”
Meanwhile, a Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said: “Our street lighting team address all reported lighting faults and make repairs as timeously as possible.”
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