I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!!!!!!!

That well known and noble sport of “councillor baiting” begins again with the new calendar for Council committee meetings starting to appear. Quickly of the mark is the Boldon Cleadon and Whitburn CAF.

According to the South Tyneside Media office, its “ambitious street lighting partnership is winning fans across the Borough”. An update on the project will be presented to the next meeting of Boldon, Cleadon and Whitburn Community Area Forum, whose Chair, Councillor Alison Strike, said: "The Light It initiative is really exciting and is bringing great benefits for our residents.”

With a 25 year PFI contract to the value of £65 million, Balfour Beatty are now in charge of street lighting and related issues across the Borough. With such a whopper of a cash cow, South Tyneside should be glowing with glee! However, travelling around the Borough at night and during the day reveals a different picture. How many lights in this area continue to burn on a 24 hour basis, and how many are never on at all? How many times have Balfour Beatty contractors been seen to drive past lights which are clearly not working as they should, only to see them in the same state weeks later? PFI has resulted in the Council loosing control of lighting issues, the responsibility being handed to a company whose interest in public maintenance is as dinted as a second hand Robin Reliant. Could this be the same Balfour Beatty who forget to cross reference municipal plans in Newcastle, dug a couple of twenty foot deep holes and ruptured a main sewerage main, causing effluent to flood the streets? Their repair bill to date is over £5 million.

What is even more galling, is that not only have the Council given £65 million to a company to do a job that they used to do themselves, they also forked out £3000,000 to a firm of consultants for the privilege of giving the contract to Balfour Beatty.

I shall look forward to the CAF presentation, but I hope it doesn’t go on into the night because there’s no guarantee the lights will still be on!