Street lights on Newgate finally back on!

Date published: 15/05/2006

Street lights on Newgate are finally back on, just days after the black-out was reported on Rochdale Online.

Rochdale residents had been left in the dark for over a month as more than half the street lights and the pedestrian crossing lights on Newgate in the Town Centre were out of order.

Council Officers had advised that the Council is not responsible for these lights, and therefore could not turn them back on. The responsibility lay with Norweb. The Council had tried for weeks to get Norweb to act - Norweb apparently told the Council that they have other things to do.

Councillor Wera Hobhouse finally got so fed up of watching residents’ and business complaints left unresolved, so she contacted Rochdale Online.

Two days after the article appeared on the site Norweb finally switched the lights back on.

Wera said: "Hurray! The lights had been out for a good month. For some time Council Officers had been urging Norweb, who are responsible for those street lights, to act, but without success. I got so fed up I contacted the media. Now thanks to the publicity from Rochdale Online, the lights are back on!"