Write a commentPensioners in the Raymond Kelly Park area of Newry are afraid to leave their homes at night due to ongoing delays by Roads Service in fixing street lights in the area, a local councillor has claimed.
Newry Councillor Michael Savage said elderly residents in the area have had no street lighting near their homes for over a week and are petrified walking home in the dark.
He said: “Roads Service turnaround times for repairs to street lights in our City are a disgrace and are leaving vulnerable people in our society frightened to leave their own homes at night.
“There are multiple individual lights out across the city and they are taking weeks to get fixed but in the Raymond Kelly Park, Kiln Street and Pound Road area all the lights have been out for over a week.
“A lot of elderly residents live in this area and one lady spoke to me at the weekend about having to run the gauntlet of people drinking in bushes as she walked past them in the pitch dark on her way home from Mass on Saturday evening. She was very frightened and shaking when she got home.
“This is also a main pedestrian route to Daisy Hill Hospital for people from the Barcroft area and in recent days they have been getting taxis home from visiting loved ones in the hospital rather than face having to walk home in the dark along Pound Road.
“I can live with delays to repairs to the odd light out in a street being but to have all the lights blown in a number of neighbouring streets for over a week is not acceptable.
“These lights need fixed immediately as they are putting elderly and vulnerable residents in the area at risk.
“This is a safety and security issue now and I again ask Roads Service to sort this problem out as a matter of urgency. “
