Street so dark it’s "an accident waiting to happen" may soon see the light – Devon Live

A street so dark its an accident waiting to happen may soon be lit up thanks to Tiverton Town Council.

The Council has agreed to support resident Audrey Joyners campaign to install two new streetlights where she lives on Hillcrest. The Town Council will ask Devon County Council Highways whose responsibility it is to look after the roads to install the lights.

Concerns over the nearby Tiverton Ambulance Station were also raised, due to emergency vehicles using the road.

A motion put forward by Councillor Irene Hill, which was subsequently passed, means the Council has agreed to contribute 2,500 towards the costs of installing additional lighting.

Speaking at a Tiverton Town Council meeting on Monday, March 9, Ms Joyner, who has lived on the street for seven years, said: The entry road has no lights at all, and there are up to 15 parked cars there most days. Cars are swinging around from Belmont Road, and ambulances are coming in the opposite direction.

With no streetlights, the road is completely dark. People have to get out of their cars and across the road to the pavement as there is none on the car parking side. If youre coming from town, walking or cycling, you have to cross the road in darkness to get into Hillcrest.

Ms Joyner added that she became aware of the hazards in the road soon after moving due to falling on the uneven pavement. She said her son also tripped on the curb and banged his head badly.

For five years, I moaned to myself every time I walked along the road, she said. I thought that perhaps the new Perriman Square development might give some light, but it doesnt at all.

Of all the roads in Tiverton which need the lights, this one does, and I tried to do something about it.

Ms Joyner added that two years ago, a petition was signed, and Devon County Council (DCC) had agreed to install lights via councillors locality budget. However, DCC, Colin Slade, explained that there was never an application put forward to and therefore money could not have been paid.

Ms Joyner said that at the time, Wester Power Distribution had quoted that the total cost would be 6,000 to bring the road up to an acceptable standard.

Cllr Hill, who put forward the motion added: Im aware that lighting is a responsibility of DCC, but there are two good reasons why we should consider a contribution towards this.

First of all, its quite clear that there is a need to improve the lighting in Hillcrest. I have been told there was a project set up to put in two extra lights as the lighting was not up to standard and they were going to bring it up to the same level that it should be.

Also, if you look at Perriman Square next door, there are eight lights in the space of about 400m, which is amazing. Hillcrest has virtually none.

There is an accident waiting to happen there, the ambulance station is at the end, and there is one light at the end of the road, but it doesnt highlight anything and give a lot of aurae. Ambulances, however careful they are, can, and do, go down that road quickly. I think its a real danger for children and for elderly people who live there.

The other reason is that Audrey Joyner got in contact with me last year, and I found out that this had come through and come to the Town Council in May 2018, when we asked if DCC was intending to install street lighting at Hillcrest following a petition with 2100 emails calling for it.

We were told funding would be provided, but that there would be a shortfall which would need to come from another source, possibly Tiverton Town Council.

Councillor Wally Burke explained that previously Belmont Hospital had a big light on the end of the building illuminating the road.

Once it was altered that light went and there was no light left there whatsoever, he said.

Councillor Tom Lindus said the Town Council needed to be hounding DCC to get this sorted.

He said: They should be doing this, its something that they should have done years ago. If anything, I think we should be writing, or communicating with DCC and find out exactly where they stand on this and what theyre going to do. This might have been something they have forgotten about and pushed under the carpet.

Although its been going on for a while, were still talking about 2,300, and we dont know where its going.

If it is just the fact they need that little extra in their budget, then maybe that can be discussed again. Its not our responsibility, and lots of other people could now say the same. If we give 2,300 for this one, can we not spend 5k to go up Bakers Hill where I live, so I dont fall over when Im drunk in the middle of the dark? It is a different scenario, but I do feel that DCC should take on their responsibilities.

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Street so dark it's "an accident waiting to happen" may soon see the light - Devon Live