Lights out in Goldsel Road

Since late October, Crockenhill residents have been increasingly concerned about the darkness in a major part of Goldsel Road, running from alongside Dibsdall Meadow to the bridge over the A20. The street lights have now been out for the best part of a month. I have taken a number of calls and emails from local residents, and have taken the matter up repeatedly with Kent Highways.

The difficulty has been identifying the root of the problem. Kent Highways recently replaced nine out of the twelve columns in this area, and it seemed quite possible that the failure of the street lights was related to this. However, there was also the possibility that the problem reflected a fault in the electricity supply from UK Power Networks (UKPN). Several visits took place from Kent Highways teams before the problem was definitively established last week as one that related to the UKPN supply.

I understand that a UKPN team was in the area yesterday afternoon and it is hoped that they will be able to revisit today to make a damaged cable in the area safe. This is not the cause of the lighting fault, but making it safe is necessary for other work to be undertaken. It is not possible to say how long it will take to fix the fault until its precise nature is diagnosed.

It is frustrating that it has taken us several weeks to get to this point, and it is still not clear exactly when the problem will be resolved. However, it is at least positive that UKPN are on site and I will provide an update as soon as I know more.