Question: How many KCC Streetlight Engineers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: We’re not really sure!

At the Environment and Regeneration Policy Overview Committee this week KCC’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste (Keith Ferrin) made an astonishing admission in that Kent County Council Highways doesn’t have a clue how many street lights it either owns or maintains.

Following questions from the cross party committee Mr Ferrin suggested that KCC is probably maintaining Street Lights that are not owned by KCC and worse still not maintaining street lights that are owned by the authority.

Ray Parker (Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste) said: “This sounds like a comedy of errors, I am flabbergasted that KCC has no idea how many street lights it owns. Street lighting is a major concern for the public, how can an authority that claims to be “excellent” not even know such a fundamental piece of information”.

KCC pays for the energy used by street lights on a bulk buy system that is negotiated on a regular basis with EDF Energy. A deciding factor in how much is paid must be how many street lights there are. How is it possible for KCC to negotiate a contract that gives value for money without an idea of how much energy is being used.

Ray Parker went on to say: “This is the time of the year when KCC’s Tory Administration claims that it’s tightening its belt and is cutting back on waste. If there are say 100,000 streetlights in Kent and we are paying for the energy to light 110,000 that’s a lot of money being wasted; what’s even more worrying is that it seems we are not maintaining streetlights that we should be maintaining; this essential public service must be brought up to scratch”.

More information:

Ray Parker (Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment & Waste)