CALLS of ‘let there be light’ are being made by residents in Pennyfern after they were forced to use TORCHES for three weeks due to faulty street lamps.

Residents in Maple Road have been faced with a blackout and ScottishPower, which is responsible for the outage, is being urged to fix the problem immediately.

A campaign is being led by ward councillor Keith Brooks and his colleague Stuart McMillan MSP, who have both been contacted by several Maple Road residents concerned about the issue.

People are worried about safety and security and many say they have had to resort to using torches to guide them through pitch-black conditions. The lights have been out since 10 January and the Tele understands they will not be fixed until Tuesday.

Mr McMillan said: “The issue has been highlighted to me by a large number of residents and some have even indicated they require to use a torch at nights to get from their vehicles to their homes.

“This is a concerning situation and alongside Councillor Brooks I have contacted ScottishPower to raise our constituents’ concerns and to ask that they investigate this problem and to fix the lighting as soon as possible.” Mr Brooks added: “A number of residents on Maple Road have spoken to me about the broken street lighting and they have quite correctly expressed their anxieties.

“I want my constituents to freely navigate their street at night again as compared to the current inadequate situation.” Greenock & Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil received a number of complaints from constituents at his surgery on Friday afternoon and slammed the energy company for its handling of the situation.

Mr McNeil said: “ScottishPower should be more open with their customers and tell them exactly what the problem is. This is not just one street light — it’s an entire street that’s been out since 10 January.

“They could have put leaflets through customers’ doors to let them know what is happening.

“People have been very concerned about safety and security.

“ScottishPower have behaved arrogantly by not meeting targets and keeping their customers informed — this is completely unacceptable.

“I want to know how big their backlog of repairs is all over Inverclyde.” ScottishPower today responded to the concerns saying they were only recently contacted about the issues and that they are responding quickly.

A spokeswoman said: “We found out there was a problem on the 14 January and we will get our engineers out to look at it on Tuesday.

“We have 20 working days to carry out a multiple fault on street lighting so we are well within that time frame.”