THE number of outstanding street light repairs in Stonehaven has been a cause for complaint for some time – and today councillors signalled their dissatisfaction with the situation when they considered the latest quarterly performance report by Aberdeenshire Council’s Environment and Infrastructure Service.
The local authority has a target to attend to all street lighting faults within seven days. At today’s meeting of the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee, members heard this aspect of service delivery was red-flagged as off target.
Cllr Alan Turner asked head of service Alan Wood how the performance was rated in other areas in the Shire – only to learn all other areas such as Buchan were enjoying a repair response that met the targets, so showed green on the charts.
”This is not the first time we are at less than target,” said Mr Turner. ”I can’t remember the last time we met the target.
Mr Wood said there had been a significant increase in repair numbers towards target – but he said it was now six quarters since performance met target.
Cllr Sarah Dickinson said she was unhappy with the expectations set by the Council’s website, where faulty street lights can be reported and which indicates any faults should be fixed within seven days. Mrs Dickinson said she felt the information should be better managed and asked that the website was more ‘supple’.
She added: ”If you are all green in Buchan, then the target is achievable. It would be good to have that translated down here. The target, in this area, is not what you can expect.”
North Kincardine representative Shirley Burnett then shared a light-bulb moment with those present, asking if the teams of electricians employed by the Shire could work in different areas.
Mr Wood said: ”They tend just to work in one location, but they can be redeployed to other locations as well, if there are particular challenges.”
He added: ”The factors of time and geography come into it but it is possible to do.”