RESIDENTS living in private roads in Castle Point have been told they will have to maintain streetlights themselves following a row between two councils.

Those living in unadopted or private roads across the borough have been told neither Castle Point Council nor the county council will maintain their streetlights.

The county council, which maintains lamp posts in other roads, appears to have stopped providing the service after switching off the lights to save £1.4million a year.

But residents, many of them elderly, are confused as to how they are supposed to change the high voltage lamps.

Colin Egleton, 70, of Bramble Road, Canvey, said: “The whole thing is a cop out. It’s ludicrous.

“If they think I’m going to shimmy up a lamppost, then shuffle along it and change the light bulb, they are living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Des Stickland, 85, also of Bramble Road, said: “If they are going to do this, are they going to reduce our rates?

“I’ve been here for 17 years and they have always been maintained by one of the authorities.”

Keswick Road, Bassenthwaite Road, Windermere Road, Coniston Road and Ullswater Road, in Thundersley, are among streets across the borough never taken on by the county council.

The county council and the borough council, when acting as highways authority on the county council’s behalf, used to maintain all the streetlights.

Castle Point Council has written to residents to tell them they will be responsible for the maintenance, with the chief executive, David Marchant, planning to take the issue up with County Hall after claiming they were misleading residents on the issue.

Barry Campagna, Canvey Independent Party councillor for Canvey South, said: “It’s not until they decided to do the party-night lighting that they assessed all the areas they were in charge of and they said the unadopted roads don’t come under their remit, so they said they wouldn’t do them anymore.

“How can we have residents fix their own lights?”

A county council spokesman said: “We own and maintain most of the street lights in Essex, however we are not responsible for street lights on private roads.

“The responsibility for maintenance of these lies with the owner.”

A spokeswoman for Castle Point Council said: “The chief executive has agreed to take this matter up directly with Essex County Council tomake sure the county council stops giving misleading information to residents that Castle Point Council has any responsibility for street lighting on private roads.”