Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request information regarding street lighting maintenance, reports, and replacement timelines within your local authority area.
Specifically, please provide answers and data for the following questions for the financial year 2025/6.
1) How many total individual reports or notifications of non-functioning, damaged, or faulty street lights (or bulbs/lanterns requiring replacement) were received by the council?
2) How many of these reports resulted in a complete bulb/lantern replacement versus a full column (post) replacement?
3) What was the average time taken (in calendar days or working days) from the initial report being logged to a field technician attending/replacing a faulty bulb or lantern unit?
4) What was the longest recorded single delay (in days) to repair/replace a reported street light bulb during this period?
Response
The majority of streetlights in our district are the responsibility of the highway authority and not the District Council. The highway authority for our District is Kent County Council who can be contacted at freedomofinformation@kent.gov.uk.
I can confirm that the Council does not hold the information you have requested for the streetlights owned and maintained by the District Council. The District Council conducts general maintenance every 4 to 12 weeks depending on the level of street lighting faults received, which needs to amount to a full working day for the lighting contractor given their day rate charges. The lanterns are mostly fixed/replaced with this time frame. During winter months this can be anything from 15 to 25 faults to be inspected and during the summer month it can be less than 10 faults reported due to the long summer evenings.