PLEAS have been made to ensure that Helensburgh is not kept in the dark after damning street lighting repair figures were published by Argyll and Bute Council.

Barely one in 10 street lighting repairs in the area were carried out within 10 days during the last three months of 2018.

The revelation is made in a scorecard report which will be considered by the council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee on Thursday.

READ MORE: Report lays bare scale of Helensburgh street lighting failures

A target of 75 per cent was set for street lighting repairs to be complete within 10 days, but a mix of Christmas lighting and staff shortages meant that only 11 per cent were done in that timescale.

Across the whole of Argyll and Bute, the figure was 25 per cent, again compared to a target of 75 per cent. Between July and September, 69 per cent of street lighting repairs in Helensburgh and Lomond were completed within 10 days.

MSP Maurice Corry said: “I am disappointed by that rate of repairs. This is very much a community safety issue and as a spokesperson for community safety for the opposition in the Scottish Parliament I would implore the council to see a way to fixing lights that need repaired in a more timely manner.

“Not having street lights leads to safety issues in the community and also accidents with people falling, and we wouldn’t want that to happen in our community.”

Norman Muir, convener of Helensburgh Community Council, said: “It is not a very good record, but with the staff shortages it is probably understandable.

“However, the council does have to keep fairly vital functions like street lighting as a high priority.

“Even in a town that has a small crime rate, you have to provide reassurance that streets and roads are kept well lit.

“Like everything else, if you lay down a rule, you have to fulfil that rule, and if you can’t, change it.”

READ MORE: Community council asks: how many lights are out in Helensburgh?

The report for today’s meeting, which takes place at Helensburgh and Lomond Civic Centre, highlighted the effect of staff sickness and annual leave.

It said: “Our ability to utilise staff and an electrician from another area was limited due to Christmas light installations and some major faults affecting large number of street lights in a single locus/area.

“Cabling faults requiring dig-ups and repairs meant that dark lamps could not be attended within desired timeframes.

“Recruitment exercise is being undertaken that will see the squad back to full strength and enable repair timescales to be better achieved.”

The scorecard for the three months from July to September had stated: “Overall performance has improved, though sickness absence has had an effect in western domains.

“Full compliment of staff and operatives should be available from Monday, October 22. We would look to see continuous improvement in financial quarter three.”

On the most recent overall Argyll and Bute figure, it added: “Due to transformation, overdue jobs have increased slightly. Vacancies are being filled, therefore there will be a focus on reducing the overdue jobs.”

Helensburgh councillor Ellen Morton, chair of the area committee, said: “I know that the team is short-staffed, but even at a full compliment, it is still a very small team.

“Every year it is easy to take another tiny cut, then another, in different departments, but some are now reduced to a tiny number of people.

“When you have a department that is small in numbers, even one person being off ill can have a huge impact. It has a really disproportionate effect on the outcomes.

“The figure for lighting repairs is not good on the face of it, but Christmas lights would be a factor.

“Although the council is now withdrawing Christmas lights, they were still engaged with it last year, mainly in assisting local groups.”

Concerns over street lighting in Argyll and Bute had previously been raised by councillors at the end of 2018, with Kintyre and the Islands Councillor Alastair Redman claiming that such repairs were being done quicker in Ghana than in his council ward.