A CONCERNED mayor has called for streetlights to be repaired in Dovercourt in the wake of a series of assaults.

Several streetlights in Dovercourt town centre have not been working for months and residents travelling at night are fearful following recent incidents.

Harwich mayor Ivan Henderson said he has contacted Essex County Council on multiple occasions about the matter and is still seeking answers.

He said: “I’ve contacted the council a few times about the faulty lights now as they are in areas that a lot of our residents use.

“Council policy states that street lights are to be turned off at 1am except in areas of high value such as shops and transport hubs.

“We’ve got four lights out in the town centre currently.

"They were out in early December and I keep being told they’ll be fixed in early 2023.

“I’ve gone back to the council to say that is not good enough per its policy.”

Mr Henderson said the lack of street lighting is not simply a matter of safety as it also affects events in the town.

On December 3, the Dovercourt Town Centre Partnership held its Christmas late-night shopping and festive lights switch-on and it was noticeable parts of the town were in darkness.

Mr Henderson added: “I have people travelling late at night from Dovercourt Rail Station and they aren’t feeling very safe around these dark areas.

“We’ve already had the issues about Essex Highways being in managed decline and this is compounded by the streetlight problems.

He said noticeable areas of the town centre without street lighting include the light attached to the Original Factory shop building as well as a light adjacent to The Cabin farmhouse bakery.

A spokesperson for Essex Highways said: “We are aware of this issue. These streetlights are heritage-style streetlights which we attempted to convert to LED, but unfortunately the process failed.

“Now that there is more availability for heritage style LED conversions, we have scheduled a repair to be carried out as part of the phase 4 LED programme this year.”