Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Hello,

A street light near me has been off for some time. My neighbour originally spotted it and reported it over 3 weeks ago. I have reported on the 'Love Clean Streets' app about a week ago. The response to reports on the app are usually pretty speedy, but the update on the report is stuck at "We will assess your report within two working days and decide how urgently it needs to be dealt with." There darkness on this part of the street is noticeable. My neighbour is concerned about the safety of it not being very well lit in this section of the street.

How long does it normally take for lights to be repaired? Has anyone else reported street lights not working and how long was the response time? How long do you think I should I wait before reporting it again? Many thanks for any advice!

Tags for Forum Posts: Street lights, street lighting repairs

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KTwok
I had a reply to my email to Philip Slawther Principal Scrutiny Support Officer. He said the video from that meeting has now been uploaded onto the Council’s YouTube site.

Helpfully he also gave me the link to the meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58uk44K2Lg

I flicked through and tried to find the street lighting item but haven't had time to do so yet.
The sound is awful by the way.

I spoke to someone who attended the meeting who said that the Assistant Director there anticipated a solution by November. Plainly this is utterly unacceptable. Something isn't working and not just the street lights! But I will make time to find and watch the relevant part of the video tomorrow to confirm.

About the suggestion to use humour as a gentle criticism, normally I'm all in favour. But perhaps something stronger is needed where street safety is the issue. Especially where it seems that residents are being asked to believe what some computer program reports as more accurate than the evidence of our own eyes.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a local council expected to fix the street lights looks incompetent if it can't even trust and learn from residents who report lights which are out at night or on by day.

The video about the Lighting item starts at 1:09.30. The heading is "Street Lighting Contracts Performance".

The video quality is very poor. Which may be because this committee was given a room with crap cameras. The sound is even poorer. And the computer generated subtitles are largely gibberish. Though from time to time a sentence came across clearly and with refreshing honesty. Somebody introduced as Mark confirmed the worst fears of people posting on this website. Yes there were different parties passing the blame; and yes lights were reported as 'on' which were 'off' and vice versa (on in the day). There were references to somebody called Ken and Tom who were involved.
Mark asks "who's actually going out there and checking" [1:24:37]  To his credit he's been out and about reporting and chasing. So he knows that what residents report is not bullshit.

He(?) also admitted "there's a level of incompetence here" ]1:23:43. 
He says: "We look incompetent here and that's not a position I like to be."  And
"We've got an unreliable system which we've paid a lot of money for".

I was disappointed rhat Mark didn't explicitly say - though I'm pretty sure he gets it - that our Borough has approaching 300,000 pairs of eyes on the street. Many of whom take the trouble to report problems like this- entirely for free. I also know from my own experience as a resident and a former councillor that reporting all and any such problems and then being ignored can be a recipe for not bothering in the future.

Mark tells the panel that he's insisting it's put right. My question is whether he has the power to make that happen - and preferably well before November.

We had a whole lamp post removed in Endymion Road, after it became unstable during works by UK Power Networks on 29th July. 
It has still not been replaced.  I have posted about it several times on Love Clean Streets but no reply. 
Any ideas how I can get this followed up? Thanks. 

Nicky, Can I suggest you set out exactly from where in Endymion Road the lamp post has been removed?  You would then be sharing that information with other concerned residents.

From viewing the video of the Scrutiny Panel and the attached report. I hope you may agree with me that Mark Stevens seems to be frank and open about the inefficient system he's inherited. Accepting mistakes and deciding to remedy them is at least a helpful start in rebuilding confidence.

I suggest you email Mr Stevens himself and pose the question you've asked on HoL. Then share his reply with other members of this site.  His email: mark.stevens@haringey.gov.uk
He's the Assistant Director.

Hi Nicky,

There seems to be some serious passing of the buck between all those responsible. Street lights have been reported as having faults, some for up to a year and nothing has been done. I've tried contacting councillors and responses have rather dried up. It's incredibly frustrating.

As Alan suggested emailing Mark Stevens might be an option. I will be writing to highlight the ever increasing list of faults, and the lack of action as we head to the darkest months of the year. Perhaps if enough people write there will be enough pressure for some action to be taken. The meeting concluded that the current contractors who are failing to maintain street lighting be allowed to try to resolve it by November. There is no clear plan for what will happen in November, if the contractors have not fulfilled their roles and required repairs are not undertaken.

Thank you Alan and Ktwok. I will follow it up as you suggest.  Thanks. 

Stop the Press! Big news!

I've had reports on the 'Love Clean Streets' app the some of the faults and day burners I reported at the start of the week have been repaired! I haven't been out to check yet but I will hopefully be able to do a loop on Saturday to check on the ones they say they have fixed. Whether this is a result of the scrutiny panel or emails being sent to those involved I don't know but it is a start. They are possibly working backwards from the most recent reports, but it's the most action I've seen in months. I feel tentatively hopeful.

Has anyone else had any responses to any of their reports being repaired?

The answer appears to be a set of glitches in the space/time continuum affecting only a select number of streets. Plainly this is the explanation why everywhere else in Haringey has not suffered the same problems. as reported on HoL. I learned this from two sources.  The general theoretical scientific framework was featured in an old episode of  Star Trek which our new unintelligible remote TV control insisted on showing me. It seemed the starship was having similar problems with walls and corridors disappearing.

The second key piece of information was the announcement that Haringey was the proud winner of two awards at the Build Back Better Awards 2023 for our street lighting. So while it may be dark at night in parts of your street (with perhaps a few blazing daylight lanterns) down at whatever posh venue the awards emerged "the whole street is lit up!"

Here's the tweet.

Another big prize for our borough as we win two awards at the Build Back Better Awards 2023 for our street lighting. Working with our residents, we have increased safety by providing the right level of lighting at the right time. #Haringey "

As a relic from the last century I can't possibly pretend to understand the tech stuff. I am bereft of any Azure IoT and TALQ-less at the best of time. For Council Taxpaying Assets (formerly known as residents) with lights not working or on all day and night please see below.

And anyway just relax. The right amount of light is being provided at all times. And if that doesn't seem to be the case, the fault must be with us. Because the Urbis Schréder’s EXEDRA platform is award winning. So please stop kvetching.

Unlike traditional CMS solutions, Urbis Schréder’s EXEDRA platform is cloud native, microservice and serverless, utilising the functionality and tools of Microsoft Azure IoT. It is built as discrete services that are independently deployable, which means it has the ability to scale independently, giving more flexibility in updating individual subsystems and providing the flexibility to choose appropriate technology on a per subsystem basis. In addition it is certified TALQ compliant, both at a Gateway and CMS level, providing a foundation for future connectivity and services.

Lanterns and other devices are connected via cellular nodes, which allows larger amounts of data to be transmitted to and from the deployed devices, thus enabling real time and live communication and facilitating over the air software and firmware updates to help ensure end-to-end security of the solution over the lifetime.

The initial benefit of the new technology is that the lighting is now responsive and adaptive to help deliver the right light in the right place at the right time for the user and task being carried out.

Notice the absurd claim that: "More importantly there was no negative feedback from the community during this time."  Obviously this website has run out of TALQ

www.buildbackbetterawards.com/london-borough-of-haringey-uk

Hi KT Wok hope you don't mind me contacting you but looks like you had some results about street lighting? I have a similar issue with Lordship Rec. For a few years I've been running round the ground at night in the winter, and while it's light during the spring & summer months. In October 2023 I noticed that a company called Marlborough installed new lights, the entire post and lantern etc, all around the perimiter and inside paths to the park. Since then the majority of the lights don't work. 

It's now March 2024 and most of the park is dark at night. I've noticed there's been a real drop off in runners who use the park at night - there used to be quite a lot - now very few. Last night I noticed two runners with headlights, the ones you strap to your forehead so you can see in the dark. 

Just wondered if you had any hints or tips on how to escalate? Have reported online using Haringey website. 

Thanks,

Nick

Hi Nick,

I have reported the same issue to the council a number of times and have also written to one of our councillors. Predictably I have not received any response.

It is a ridiculous situation given the lighting was only replaced last year, presumably at great expense. It has never really worked and the park is pretty much entirely dark at night now, worse than it was before the lighting was replaced.

Fingers crossed someone can help escalate!

Mark

Repeatedly tweeting the council has elicited a response...

"Regarding your recent enquiry re the lights in Lordship Rec, please see the response from Parks below:

The intention of the project was to upgrade the lanterns and lighting columns, to make them energy efficient, and to link the lights to the centralised management system.
The upgrades have brought to light issues with the original cabling installation. The Council has made various attempts at localised repairs. However, with the ongoing repeated faults, the Council has made a decision to replace the whole electrical distribution network in the park to make sure there is a long-term solution to provide consistent lighting across the park.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the works, it is taking longer than originally anticipated to resolve. Some of the faulty lights will be operational within the next few days, however, as the distribution network is being replaced, it will take longer for all the new lanterns to be fully operational."

6pm on 18 March. Roamin' in the nearly gloamin', Fair enough as it's not dark yet and streetlights still off.
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I listen to some delicious fandango song on the radio.
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6:30 pm. Into the dusk. all visible streetlights on. All. that is, apart from one which was reported and re-reported. It will / may/ I hope/ go on in a few hours.
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Last Autumn end of November streetlight promises made and broken.
 Now the slightly darkened Ides of March have spoken.

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