Fenland District Council set to give £210k boost for village street lights

Villages across Fenland are set to share £210,000 to help repair defective street lights in a move by the district council to “even the playing field”.

Thursday's (20) Fenland Council Cabinet meeting is to discuss a report urging members to support setting aside the cash in this year’s budget, together with a further £16,000 annually, which will be shared among parishes to help with electricity costs.

Street lights and their funding have been a major bone of contention between the district and parish councils for nearly a decade since Cambridgeshire County Council changed the way it maintains its street lights.

A loop hole left over from the 1974 shake-up of local government split the way street lights were looked after with village street lights coming under the remit of parishes, which they were meant to maintain, while lights in the towns were down to the district council.

But there are no documents, that can be found, to say why the town lights went to Fenland Council, when it was formed in 1974, and why the village lights went to the parishes.

And for 43 years Fenland Council maintained and paid for the electricity for all the district’s street lights that were not under Cambridgeshire County Council.

Then in 2017 it launched a move to make parish councils responsible for the upkeep and power of lights in their villages, using the 40-year-old anomaly to do it – a decision blasted as “double taxation” by parish councillors who pointed out people living in villages would be paying for street lighting twice.

One of those to speak against the move was Coun Gavin Booth. This week he was cautious in welcoming the latest twist which would see Fenland share £210,000 between the parishes for maintenance of street lights with the added bonus of an annual pot of £16,000 to be shared towards electricity costs.

The £210,000 is the second large sum given by the district to the parishes. In 2015 the council agreed to give parishes £250,000 for the repair of street lights after a survey showed the parlous state of many of the district’s lamp posts. Fenland picked up the bill for those most seriously in need of replacement, while parishes were left to foot the bill for lesser priority repairs – which was hugely expensive for the village councils.

Coun Booth said: “This latest sum does not cover the costs, but it goes some way towards evening things out. The £16,000 is a welcome addition to help with electricity costs, but there is no guarantee this is a permanent move.

“We have been trying to resolve this issue since 2014/15, things have changed so many times – and there is no guarantee they won’t again.”

Council leader Coun Chris Boden, who pushed to get the street lighting issue reviewed, admitted the latest move comes with no permanent guarantee, but said it was better than the current situation.

“I have been aware for sometime of the unfairness of the way street lighting is funded and was determined to do something about it. Unfortunately we don’t have the money to provide a full solution, but this goes some way to evening the playing field.”