Wanted: murder victims
John Lambert of Middledale Road needs a mugging or assault in order for the lights to be switched on in his street. (Picture: Andrew Carpenter/001396-85)
A FRUSTRATED resident is looking for volunteers to be attacked, sexually assaulted or even murdered so a street light in his road will be turned back on.
The tongue-in-cheek request has been made by Harborough man John Lambert after he was told this is what would have to happen for the light near his home in Middledale Road to be switched back on.
The 68-year-old called Leicestershire County Council after seeing the light at the top of his road was being switched off in the small hours as part of a county-wide cost-cutting plan.
The council said the police could request it be switched back on in certain extreme circumstances.
But after speaking to an officer at the monthly Neighbourhood Watch stall in the town’s Market Hall, Mr Lambert said he was told it would take a crime on the magnitude of a murder or serious assault for the request to be a success.
The response prompted Mr Lambert to write to the Mail in jest, calling on the ‘good citizens of Market Harborough’ to volunteer to become victims of crime.
Mr Lambert, who lives with wife Cherry, told the Mail: “My appeal is obviously a joke, but I thought that was the best way of getting people to take notice.
“The light is opposite the wooden pathway across the recreation ground. It is used as a shortcut by a lot of people and in my opinion its not very safe to have the lights off. I’m all for saving cash but this seems to be taking things a bit far.”
County Hall began its switch-off of 1,518 street lights across town in January, in a move its says will save £23,000 a year.
But the Mail reported on February 2 how residents living in the Logan Street area of Harborough were blaming the switch-off on a spate of lead thefts from their homes.
Sgt Nick Everitt, of Harborough police, said: “The decision to turn street lights on or off rests with Leicestershire County Council. If a neighbourhood team became aware that the street lighting pattern is contributing to a problem with crime or anti-social behaviour then we would ask the county council to reconsider. So far, no such issue has emerged. Ultimately the decision remains with the county council.
“Whilst the absence of street lighting can increase the fear of crime, the overall rate of recorded crime in Harborough continues to decrease.”
A spokesman for County hall said: “Before changes are made to any street lights, every potential site is assessed thoroughly and consultation is carried out with the emergency services, the council’s accident investigation unit and parish councils.
“This ensures that lighting is retained where highway features such as pedestrian crossings or traffic calming measures exist. Working closely with the emergency services and parish councils also makes sure that we are aware of issues within the local community and lighting is retained where for example CCTV, exists.
“We will respond to concerns raised by the emergency services where the link to part night lighting is established.”
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Weather for Harborough
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
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gemlyteddie
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 08:43 PMif he pays for it, fair enough, just worked out it would be £15.15 a year. but as it is, harborough has hardly any crime, so theres nothing to worry about. have you looked at the sky recently? the best thing about this is that you can see stars for once!!
Mrs Mumford
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 10:11 PMAlthough this is an important issue, the headline and a lot of the content in the article are unnecessarily sensational.
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