Residents appeal over street light removal
BBCResidents in Jordanstown, County Antrim are appealing to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to reconsider a decision to remove their street lights.
Almost a hundred families who live in the area around Lenamore Drive/Church Avenue will be affected by the loss.
Tracy and Steven Morris, who have lived in the area for almost ten years, said it "came completely out of the blue" when residents received a hand delivered letter earlier this year.
DfI said it intends to "remove any concrete street lighting columns that have been identified as having reached the end of their serviceable life", however "no formal decision has yet been taken on whether replacement lighting will be provided".
Tracy Morris has three children aged 14,12 and eight and says it's an issue of safety for her family and others.
"We're going to be left in total darkness," she says.
"Walking home at night, or even letting the boys out to play.
"I wouldn't feel safe them walking home on their own, and come winter time , it's dark at five o'clock."
The letter, which was shown to BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show, explained that because the roads were not adopted by the Department, current policy dictates that when "street lighting reaches the end of its serviceable life, it is removed without replacement".
Alex McClenaghan and her husband Peter have lived in the area for almost 30 years and says there have always been street lights.
She says losing the street lights wouldn't just affect them.
"The lanes are used by the whole community as a safe shortcut for people to get away from the main traffic on the Jordanstown Road.
"So this is a public amenity. It has a public right of way, and yet the DFI have just decided to remove the lights."
It is an issue that personally affects Alliance councillor Tom Campbell who also lives in the area.
"They have maintained them since the seventies and there's genuinely no good reason for them to not continue maintaining them," he says.
"I think they should leave in as many lights as are safe."
What has DfI said?
The Department for Infrastructure told the BBC it intends to remove lighting "identified as having reached the end of their serviceable life and which now require removal on safety grounds".
"The concrete columns are approximately 60 years old and have been assessed as being at the end of their serviceable life and structurally unsafe. There are also electrical issues with the existing installation which require attention."
It added that it will "will arrange for the affected columns to be removed as resources permit, with priority given where the need to address the identified safety issues warrants more urgent action".
"No formal decision has yet been taken on whether replacement lighting will be provided. Officials are considering the options available."