Residents have raised the alarm after a busy street has been left without streetlights for more than a year.
Part of Desborough Road, High Wycombe, has been left in the dark due to broken streetlights next to the Eden Shopping Centre.
With the short daylight hours, residents, shoppers and drivers have to navigate the pitch-dark road, which has been labelled “scary.”
A resident, who reported the problem to Buckinghamshire Council on FixMyStreet, said in October: “The street lights don’t work and it’s been more than a year. I work in [the] shopping centre and it’s my way back home. It scary to walk there when is dark outside. Please fix it asap.”
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There is no street lighting between Suffield Hill junction and the Safestorage Self Storage when the Free Press visited the location, leaving pedestrians without reflective clothing at particular risk at the busy crossing.
Vulnerable Shopmobility customers are forced to navigate the dark street from the disabled street parking to the shop, which provides vital mobility aids.
“It’s very dark and it’s not safe,” Shopmobility’s manager Terry Aris said.
He said the shop reported the problem to the Council more than a year ago.
Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for transport Steven Broadbent said: “We are aware of the issue with the street lights on Desborough Road not working, which is caused by a fault with the mains feeder cable. This fault can only be repaired by the electricity supply company, SSE, and we are pressing them for it to be fixed as a matter of urgency, but there is an issue in accessing the underground supply currently.
“We have found no specific reports of faulty lights on Suffield Road itself, but we will investigate.”
A spokesperson from SSE said the company was working with the Council to address the situation.
"“Investigations by SSEN engineers have established that a mains fault is causing the outage. SSEN is working to progress repairs to resolve the issue as quickly and safely as possible," they said.
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