ePetition details

We the undersigned petition the council to Continue to maintain all existing council street lights in unadopted roads where there is public access/public rights of way, many of which have been provided for more than 30 years.

If you know someone without Internet access please click on this link for the telephone number of the Leader of the Council, Councillor John Hart, and pass it on to them so that they can also express their views: https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=149
Any council policy needs to recognise that unadopted/private roads pay full council tax and that there are two categories of these roads:

* private roads from which the public are excluded

* unadopted roads that the public can use in exactly the same way as adopted roads, often without knowing that the roads are actually unadopted

Where councils have installed and maintained lights in unadopted roads with public access/public rights of way, there was a need which still exists today.
The needs of the public and residents will vary from road to road, but the council will always have had a good reason to install the lights. For example, the businesses on an industrial estate normally operate only during daylight hours so lights are more likely to have been provided to light the public right of way between a residential area and sports facilities, which the industrial estate provides, rather than to directly benefit the businesses.

To give another example, Sea Lawn Terrace in Dawlish has had three council street lights since at least the 1980s. Now,as at the time of installation, the road is freely used by the public, but with no pavement there are real safety concerns for the vulnerable who live in/use the road.
Network Rail makes use of one of the street lights to monitor sea conditions and the railway line for safety.The railway line brings much needed revenue to the South West, so the sooner any concerns are dealt with, the less impact there is on the local economy.
As a member of the public you may be using unadopted roads without knowing it. So if you have children who walk to school, have poor night vision, or poor health you may wish to check to see which roads in your area this will affect. To do this you need to look at the council’s street light map:

https://new.devon.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/report-a-problem/map/map_src/light/

and the council’s road map (unadopted roads are in black):

https://new.devon.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/data/

Alternatively, you could ask your local county councillor to find out which roads in your area would be affected. To find your local county councillor’s email address and phone number go to:

https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx

Thank you for your support.

Started by: james knights

This ePetition ran from 16/12/2018 to 15/03/2019 and has now finished.

15 people signed this ePetition.