Aberdeenshire Council offered cash by Huntly Community Council to repair traditional streetlights
An “outraged” community is fighting council plans to remove traditional-style town square lampposts which they fear could be “potentially lost forever”.
In February, Aberdeenshire Council announced that 10 decorative streetlights would be removed from The Square in Huntly on “safety grounds”, after engineers discovered “high levels” of rust.
A petition pushing to retain the lights, which have been a town centre fixture for more than 20 years, received more than 1200 signatures.
According to an Aberdeenshire Council spokesperson, the local authority will press on with removing the lampposts in September, at a cost of £1500.
The Square will still be bright enough at night after the “traditional-looking, but not historical” streetlights are removed and community groups have been consulted, the spokesperson added.
However, HCC chairman Tony Gill argued that the decision was made with little consultation and rejected the council’s view that the lampposts are dangerous.
While the council has pledged to conserve the streetlights, he argued that the current plan to remove the lampposts and “review the plan for Huntly Square at a later date” is unacceptable.
HCC unanimously voted against the removal of the streetlights, a stance supported by Huntly Rotary Club and a number of local businesses.
Future plans for the streetlights will be decided through a review of Huntly’s conservation area, to begin in 2025, but Mr Gill argued that the lights should stay in place until plans are drawn up.
In a bid to keep the lights, Mr Gill wrote to the Marr Area Office to present an alternative which was drawn up through “months of discussion”.
The chairperson said HCC would raise cash to help Aberdeenshire Council repair and maintain the lampposts - if it means they can stay in Huntly.
Mr Gill estimates that necessary works, eight new lamps and replacing three lampposts which were hit by lorries, would cost £31,000.
He rejects the council’s verdict that the bases of all 10 streetlights need to be replaced for health and safety reasons, and claims that a local business has offered to partially fund the work.
“There has been no credible evidence produced by the lighting department to prove all the lampposts are in an unsafe condition,” he added.
The chairman also believes that similar streetlights in other towns, such as Monymusk and Kemnay, are in much worse condition than those in Huntly.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesperson said the decision to remove the lampposts came due to both safety fears and “the significant constraints on our budget”.
“The decision to remove the 10 decorative lampposts in the centre of Huntly were taken on safety grounds after serious corrosion was discovered in their bases,” the spokesperson said.
“The traditional-looking lights, though not historical, have been maintained by the council since their installation more than 20 years ago.
“We have carefully followed our policies around conservation and throughout this process we have engaged with community organisations including Huntly Development Trust and the community council and as a result of those discussions the lights are to be conserved as part of a wider project with these partners.
“We appreciate that this decision may not be a popular one in the community, but given that good lighting provision will remain in place – and giving due consideration to significant constraints on our budget – we feel this is the appropriate action to take.”
Aberdeenshire Council said that, along with removing the decorative lampposts, the remaining modern streetlights will be fitted with new LED heads and the sockets used to power Huntly’s Christmas tree will be kept.
Work will also be done to tidy up the town centre, including replacing slabs and moving bollards to improve accessibility.
