FAILED street lights leaving a busy Petersfield road in darkness and pedestrians in danger should be repaired soon says Hampshire County Council, who is responsible for the lights.
But Scottish and Southern Electricity say renewing power cables to lamp posts on Winchester Road from Stoneham Park to the A3 won’t begin till January, 2017.
The power company’s response has angered local residents, who insist the repairs should be a priority.
Oaklands Road resident Steve Jones said: “It’s dark now, but when the clocks go back at the end of October, it will be dark in the mornings and early evening.
“This delay is ridiculous, is it dark for traffic.
“It is also dangerous for youngsters walking to McDonalds, and without lighting it’s an accident waiting to happen.”
A spokesman for Scottish and Southern Electricity customer service team in Portsmouth said: “Due to the complicated nature of the repair work, a temporary road closure will be needed, which requires permission from Hampshire Highways.
“This means that the works should commence in the first half of January.”
A Scottish and Southern Electricity works spokesman added: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by the fault affecting the street lights on Winchester Road.
“We are working on plans to install 300m of new underground cable, which will not only restore the lights, it will also make the supply more robust and resilient.
“To minimise disruption on a very busy and popular road, we are discussing our plans with Hampshire County Council to ensure the work is done at a time suitable for the local community and our engineering teams.”
The council said it understood repairs would begin before Monday, October 24.