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After six months, the lights finally go out

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Published Date: 09 July 2008
AN ISLAND community's street lights were left burning day and night for more than six months, waiting for council workers to repair a fault.
The lamps that light up Craighouse, the only big settlement on Jura, stayed on from December until two weeks ago.

Donald Ewen Darroch, the secretary of Jura Community Council, said: "(We] complained about it several times and individuals complained directly to Argyll and Bute Council."

He claimed the situation arose because the council did not have a locally based electrician.

Andy Law, the head of operational services at Argyll and Bute Council, said the council paid Scottish and Southern Energy a fixed rate for electricity, so there would be no extra cost because the lights stayed on so long.

Jim Mather, the energy minister and MSP for Argyll and Bute, said: "This episode is unfortunate, but might end up being very useful as it underpins the need for the public and people in different organisations to work more closely together."



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  • Last Updated: 08 July 2008 9:56 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Upbeat,

09/07/2008 08:24:41
The energy minister might have said that this absurd state of affairs "underpins" the need for local communities to be trained and empowered to maintain their own infrastructure, communicating directly with the utility provider, rather than depending on attention of overstretched central maintenance teams.

But he did not....No change there then !
2

Paul R,

09/07/2008 10:35:40
According to wikipedia, the whole population of the Isle Of Jura is 188, therefore in the village (hamlet?) of Craighouse there can only be a handful of houses and more than likely a handful of streetlights. Why is this story really such a big deal? I guess there is nothing else to moan about on a small island!

 

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