A one-man campaigning machine has been rigorously logging every broken street light he has seen in an effort to expose Wirral Council’s inaction.

Simon Jiang, from Wallasey, has taken 6,000 photos and sent over 350 emails to the council to prove the extent of the borough’s street light problems.

Speaking to the LDRS, he said: “To them I am just a ‘vexatious complainant’. But I am [simply] demanding to know what is going on and what their reasons are for why they cannot deliver what we should rightfully expect of them in return for our taxes.”

Mr Jiang explained how the problem had grown in recent years: “What started out initially in May 2016 as a couple of dozen street lighting faults I logged with the council has gradually and prodigiously exploded to almost supernova levels of sheer unmanageable backlogs.

“Three years later – we’re looking at almost 400 lights which have not been repaired since first logged in May 2016.

Wirral Council have put together a fund of over £10 million, which they say has enabled them to start repairing 9,000 streetlights.

As part of a two-year programme, which began in September, the council plans to upgrade 26,000 street lights on top of the initial 9,000.

However, Mr Jiang said this number was wholly unrealistic and not related to the amount of street light repairs the council have actually carried out.

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Pictures taken by Mr Jiang with annotations

He said: “The council are meant to be doing 40 lights a day across the borough, but they’ve only repaired 12 on my list in the last 12 months.

“They actually repaired more lights on my list last year than this year, yet the council tend to focus on less urgent or even unnecessary repairs and replacements.

“There is absolutely no excuse for leaving the lights on my list for four or even five years and still not have them completed as urgent repairs – it makes no sense and has no logic at all.”

Mr Jiang said broken street lights caused him to fall off his bike in May.

He said: “Egerton Wharf has two or three faulty LED lights which were not repaired for three years.

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“Despite reminders to Streetscene about them being out and a warning that the whole area is unsafe after dark as a result of this, they continued to ignore them and leave them unaddressed.

“One night I was cycling through with my lights on my bike as usual, but did not pick up the piece of debris (a piece of plastic fencing) which got entangled in my front wheel as I rode over it and hit one of the uneven parts of the road on the bridge, causing the piece of fencing to flip upwards and get lodged in the spokes of my bike wheel.

“I braked suddenly and the bike keeled over to the left side and I fell to the ground. I sustained bruising and pulled my left hand badly – this led to sustained damage to the ligament of my left thumb which still is painful to this day six months later.”

Mr Jiang puts this down to the dark conditions he had to contend with: “This happened in absolute darkness as there were no lights on the bridge or at the entrance, due to the council not repairing the lights in three years.

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“You couldn’t see anything because it was so dark. If those lights were working I would have had a better view ahead of the road surface enabling me to take evasive action on seeing the piece of fencing lying on the road inside the bridge.”

Mr Jiang is thoroughly committed to logging broken street lights in Wirral. He goes on scouting rounds every week and says he logs them “almost subconsciously” as he has been doing it for so long.

He manages to fit in the time for this among his many different paid and non-paid responsibilities.

Mr Jiang said: “My job varies as I do different things. I am still a paid tour guide in Liverpool at the Music Experience in the Cunard Building, but on a part time basis only.

“I also volunteer with various ventures such as the Bombed Out Church in Liverpool, various community arts groups and street festivals in Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport, Yorkshire and Lancashire.”

As well as this, Mr Jiang manages to fit in the time to be a member of the Merseyside Transport Preservation Society, which is based at the Transport Museum in Birkenhead.

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But the cause he is perhaps most dedicated to is sorting out Wirral’s broken street lights. Yet after three-and-a-half years of hard work, Mr Jiang feels the street lights problem is no closer to being resolved.

A council spokesperson said: “We appreciate the diligence of the complainant in helping us identify broken streetlights in Wirral. Our staff hold regular meetings with the individual to provide updates around ongoing repair and replacement works, and a dedicated council team responds to reports of broken lights.

“We also have our own streetlighting inspection process. The council’s two-year LED streetlight upgrade programme is currently in its second phase – aiming to replace 28,000 streetlights with LED bulbs by autumn 2021.

“We prioritise the repair of existing lights based on this project; repairing as quickly as possible any lights which are not covered by the upgrade scheme. Limited financial resources led to a condition survey of all 35,000 streetlight columns in Wirral in 2016/17.

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“Since then we have successfully bid for over £10 million of funding, which allowed us to start replacing 9,200 full streetlight columns in September. The funding will also cover the replacement of damaged traffic bollards and illuminated signs.

“Some roads have a number of streetlights not working, usually due to faults in underground cables which are more complex and time-consuming to repair. However recent investment means that these can now be prioritised – helping us to deliver an infrastructure fit for the future.

“In recent years, limited financial resources have made it challenging to sustain the demand placed on our street lighting. We’d like to reassure residents that reports of broken lights are dealt with by staff as quickly as possible, and more than 60 streetlight repairs are now carried out each day.”