Street light monitor role in Lincolnshire set to go as fault reporting changes

Street light monitor role in Lincolnshire set to go as fault reporting changes A long-standing role connected to street lighting in Lincolnshire is set to be removed after county highways officials said it is no longer required. The proposed change affects the street light monitor position, which has been used to help identify faults across the county’s lighting network. According to the source report, Lincolnshire County Council highways officials believe the role is now unnecessary because faults are already being identified through the FixMyStreet system. The Lincoln Post has not independently verified these claims. The change centres on how problems such as failed lamps and other street lighting faults are reported and logged across Lincolnshire. FixMyStreet is already used to report a range of local concerns, including highways defects, and appears set to become the main route for raising lighting issues as well. Street lighting is an important part of daily life for residents in Lincoln, Gainsborough, Boston, Grantham, Skegness and nearby villages, especially during the darker months when working lights are vital for visibility on roads, footpaths and in residential areas. Faults can range from lamps that no longer work to defects close to junctions and failures along routes used regularly by pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. If the reported change goes ahead, there would be less emphasis on a dedicated monitoring role and greater reliance on issues being identified through reports submitted by the public using FixMyStreet. The source report suggests this forms part of a wider shift in the way the county council manages reports of street lighting faults. Lincolnshire has a mixed landscape of urban and rural communities, and its street lighting network stretches across city streets, estate roads, market towns and village lanes. In many places, especially outside larger built-up areas, reliable lighting can be particularly important where routes are less busy and visibility is reduced at night. For some residents, the reporting system will already be familiar. FixMyStreet is widely used to log potholes, damaged signs and other local highways problems, so using the same platform for street lighting faults may be seen as a continuation of an existing approach rather than a major change in itself. The source report offers limited detail about when the change could take effect or whether any further adjustments to the reporting process are planned. However, it says highways officials consider the street light monitor role no longer necessary because issues are being picked up through the existing platform. If implemented, the move would mean residents continue to report faulty street lights through the recognised system already used for local highways issues. That would make public reporting through FixMyStreet central to the way lighting faults are brought to the council’s attention. The reported proposal is specific to Lincolnshire and relates to the management of street lighting faults within the county’s highways system.