Wirral Council has put forward plans to spend more than half a million pounds to replace street lighting next year.

This investment will address the long-standing issues with older street-lighting across the borough and is seen as essential work for the future - especially if the council looks to upgrade the network with LED lighting.

The £500,000 cash injection has been proposed as part of the 'Highway Structural Maintenance Programme' and will be discussed by Cabinet.

Repair work needs to be completed as many columns are beyond repair and it is estimated that 1,600 columns are currently out of use.

In recent years the average investment in street lighting has been around £60,000.

It is hoped this cash injection of £500,000 for next year will represent a significant commitment and a big difference to neighbourhoods in the borough.

Cabinet member for Highways and Infrastructure Cllr Stuart Whittingham said: “We know residents get frustrated when they report a defective street light near their home but don’t see it repaired as quickly as they would like.

“In many cases this is because the repair is not as straightforward as just changing a lamp or a fuse. Often there are issues with the power supplied to the column, which is beyond the council’s control, but equally as often it is that the whole column itself is old, out-of-date and needs to be replaced.

“We recognise that the capital budget for street lighting has not enabled us to keep on top of the demand for this work, which is why for 2017-18 we are proposing to invest more than eight times as much in bringing the network of columns up to date.

“This is at a time when we are also carrying out a detailed value for money assessment of the whole network to investigate whether we want to replace the remaining 28,500 street lights with LED units.

“Modernising the lighting network will, of course, mean that fewer routine repairs and maintenance will be needed in years to come and shows that we are committed to meeting our pledge to have a transport infrastructure that is fit for the future.”

Liberal Democrat Cllr Stuart Kelly said: “After years of effectively denying there has been a serious problem with streetlights being left to long unrepaired it is good news that The Cabinet have finally admitted their mistakes.

“People aren’t daft they know that sometimes it’s not as simple as a lamp out, the problem is the council gives no feedback to residents who raise issues with streetlights online, it’s as if their request has fallen into a black hole.

“It’s no surprise people become frustrated when a light they have reported out is still not working months later."