A COUPLE have been left in the dark as to why there are now THREE street lights outside their home.
Lynne Kirby, 24, and her partner Jason Caulfield, 29, could not believe their eyes when two new lamp-posts were erected just yards from each other outside their home on Rams-bottom Street, Accrington, in addition to an existing one at the street's junction with Haywood Road.
And they are worried that once the new lights are turned on it will be impossible for their young children to sleep at night.
Council workmen installed the new lights around three weeks ago as part of a general upgrade of lampposts in the area.
Lynne, a sales assistant, said their sons Jack, four, and Arron, one, could now be made to suffer.
She said: "I have rung up the council and someone was supposed to come out to see us but no-one has been. Then the council workmen came back and fitted the lamps."
"Our children's bedroom is at the front of the house, so it will affect them. Arron already gets up when the sun rises. The lights will keep them awake."
Jason, a machine operator, added: "We have no idea why the lamps have been put so close together. It seems a strange thing to do."
Neighbour Damion Beech said: "It is ridiculous. I asked the workmen why they didn't just replace the old one and they said it would be too expensive. The lamps should be spread out evenly along the street."
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "It just looks stupid. Some idiot somewhere has just stuck a pin in a map and said 'Let's put them here' without thinking about it."
John Schofield, Hyndburn Council's head of transportation and technical services, said: "When designing schemes, each street is treated individually and therefore in some instances a house at a junction of two streets may end up with a column on both elevations."
"The new columns are designed to go in at set intervals and the scheme has been designed in accordance with current British and European standards to give a uniform distribution of light on the streets."
"We can examine the situation further once we have looked at overall light levels and then look at shielding or deflection of the light. The overall aim of the additional lighting is to help improve highway safety for drivers and pedestrians."
