A CONCERNED councillor has raised safety fears over the lack of working street lights in Dovercourt's High Street and at Harwich Quay.

Harwich Labour councillor Ivan Henderson revealed he first reported to Essex County Council that lights in Dovercourt High Street were out of action in December 2022.

But with even more lights now out of action, Mr Henderson fears for the safety of residents and businesses.

He said he has been contacted by a number of residents with concerns about walking at night from the railway station in Dovercourt and Kingsway and at The Quay in Harwich.

Mr Henderson said: "Essex County Council are not keeping to the promises made when they introduced part night lighting.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard: Safety - Councillor Ivan Henderson said residents need to feel safe when walking home from the railway station through the town centre Safety - Councillor Ivan Henderson said residents need to feel safe when walking home from the railway station through the town centre (Image: Submitted)

"The council policy is to keep the lights on all night within areas of High Value premises (town centres) and Transport hubs - for over a year they have left Dovercourt Highstreet in darkness". 

Mr Henderson added: "Residents need to feel safe when walking home from the railway station through the town centre".

"ECC now need to stick to the promise of fixing these lights as soon as possible."

Resident Georgie Janet-Planet Collins said: “The train bridge can be a nightmare when it’s dark as there is no light at top of stairs in Bathside.”

Gill Hughes added that a friend had fallen over a “large pothole” near Harwich Quay.

“She sustained some nasty injuries to her face and to add to the fall the streetlight wasn’t working making the area very dark," she added.

James Simpson revealed his friend also tripped over at the Quay and “bashed his chin on the kerb”.

Laureen Shaw, deputy cabinet member for highways at Essex County Council, said: "There are 12,723 streetlights in Tendring district. At the end of December, 97 per cent were working as planned. 

"Our crews are working hard to maintain streetlights across the county.

"However, we have to carefully manage our limited resources and address the most urgent issues first by focusing on residential areas.

“All defects reported to us are assessed by an inspector, so we encourage members of the public to report any issues they find through our online Tell Us tool”.

“More information on our Replacement LEDs programme and night lighting policies can be found here."