The saga of the lampost

“Jon, I saw in the Exning News that you were on the Highways group. Could you get the bulb in this streetlight replaced?”

‘Not a problem’ I said, not realising just how much effort this was going to take over a several month period. First off I checked with the Parish Council, of which I am a member. Not one of ours. District said no. County said no. Exning Estates don’t own land in that area. Flagship Homes said no. It was a real head-scratcher!

The bulb didn’t look the same as all the others in the area, some of which had been converted over to LED by Flagship Homes, and some by the District council previously. This was the clue as to what had happened. When Wendreds Way was first built it was as Council Housing. Then the houses were mostly sold off to private owners, and the flats and garages went to Flagship Homes. After carefully looking at records from the time I was able to determine that the lamp in question was attached to the lighting circuit owned by Flagship Homes, but on land owned by the District Council! After looking at the situation Flagship Homes acknowledged responsibility and replaced the bulb.

What a palaver!