A GROUP of residents in Southampton do not fear the approaching dreary winter days - as their streets are permanently bathed in light

For the past two months householders in Gorselands Road in Bitterne and surrounding areas have been left in the dark over why street lights are switched on 24 hours a day.

Council chiefs have now pinpointed the problem but admitted they do not know when things will be corrected.

Residents, who have been stung with soaring council tax bills in recent times, have now hit out at the waste of electricity.

Retired plant engineer supervisor Ian Ford, 63, said: "I have rung the council at least three times about it but all they said is that they would look into it. I know that other people have complained about it as well.

"They have been switched on permanently now for more than eight weeks but no one seems that bothered about it.

"But when the council is supposed to be saving money and our council tax bills are always going up, it seems stupid."

Ward councillor Royston Smith said: "With the way council tax bills have risen for residents, it does seem strange that street lights can be left on like this when the council is supposedly trying to keep costs down."

Earlier this year the Daily Echo revealed the phenomenon of the phantom lamp posts in the city.

Over the previous few months across the city, gleaming new metal columns had been springing up alongside old-style concrete posts - but neither were switched on.

A city council spokesman said: "The problem in Gorselands Road and surrounding areas is that these are very old columns that were controlled from a central control box. New columns have individual light sensors to turn them on and off.

"Unfortunately there was a Southern Electric cable fault.

"This left us with a decision - to leave all the lights burning in the day or turn them all off, which would have had safety issues overnight. Obviously we left the lights on for safety reasons.

"We now need to convert these columns to individual sensor control but are looking at the possibility of additional funding to convert to white lights, which would improve the lighting. We are sorry for the inconvenience."