STREETLIGHTS which are meant to be switched off overnight to save money are actually burning all day.

Hertfordshire County Council and its maintenance contractor Ringway said they are aware of the problem which is affecting lights across the county, with 40 instances reported in Comet country.

The county council began turning streetlights off in Stevenage and North Hertfordshire between midnight and 6am last summer in a bid to save money.

Stevenage is the worst affected town in the area in terms of streetlights being left on all day, with 18 ‘day burners’ reported to Ringway, which is responsible for the maintenance of the lights.

Stevenage county councillor Sharon Taylor, the leader of Stevenage Borough Council, said: “When the county council is saying they have got to turn streetlights off at night to cut costs, how is it that they have allowed streetlights to be on all day? It is clearly a problem they have got to get to grips with.”

Fellow Stevenage county councillor Robin Parker, leader of the Stevenage Liberal Democrats, said: “Ringway’s contracted time to repair streetlights is 20 working days, so effectively a month. If they are still saying that some streetlights that are burning all day aren’t being fixed in 20 working days that’s not right.”

Matthew Kelley, the divisional manager for Ringway, working on behalf of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “Although these streetlights pose no risk to the safety of the public or the light column itself, we recognise the importance of energy savings. There are no meters on streetlights, so the council doesn’t pay any extra for lights being on when they shouldn’t.

“However, we are aware of our responsibilities and fix day burning lights as part of our normal programme of work. We have identified the streetlights that are day burning and have added them to our fault list. These are being repaired as part of our scheduled traffic route programme.

“A small number of faults may not be repaired within the initial programme as a consequence of restrictions imposed on a number of the county’s traffic routes. These units will be repaired as soon as practically possible or when other works requiring traffic management are taking place to ensure a cost effective service and minimise any potential disruption to road users.”

Residents can report faulty streetlights via www.hertsdirect.org/highwayfaults