I note that Councillor Wise advises that Skanska representatives will be in attendance at the Perry Vale Ward Assembly to describe the Joint LB Lewisham and Croydon lighting renewal project.

Can I advise that in February 2012 I attended an adjacent Ward's Assembly and representation was made by Skanska staff and the Joint Representative of the two boroughs, whose name I believe is John Algar, was also present.

Four main issues arose:

1. Poor or reduced lighting levels in paths and streets
2. Poor lighting in public areas particularly at entrances
3. Installation of street furniture/poles in the middle of pathways, presenting problems for disabled and sight impaired pedestrians.
4. Areas formerly covered by public lighting but are not necessarily owned by the council do not now have lighting provision.

There was significant follow up correspondence with the Skanska team, copied to John Algar, about Point 3 and specifically that the design team within Skanska were applying a design parameter incorrectly that meant that some posts were being installed at a minimum of 800mm from the road kerb edge.

There are now at least six separate locations, some of them in the Perry Vale ward, where this mis-application has resulted in posts of one sort or another being installed in mid-path positions. Most frequently the passing widths around these posts are reduced to such dimensions as to be insufficient to allow the passage of a small wheelchair and certainly not a motorised or electric version.

The Skanska team at the meeting disagreed between themselves about this critical dimension and promised a review and then would follow up.

They were emailed highlighting the details of the issue once more.

They belatedly responded with a denial that any problem existed and that all the installations were fully compliant to an unspecified "Standard" and that installations had been endorsed by the Project's Compliance Representative.

They were emailed again, along with DoT data, reminding them of the minimum passing widths of wheelchairs and other relevant information.

This elicited an email response reversing their position and the conduct of a design review was promised and corrective action would be taken.

Now some four months from the ward meeting, no action has been undertaken by Skanska and neither has the Joint Authority Representative been in touch to explain. More installations have been completed, replicating the problem in other locations.

It is evident that the project's Control and Compliance processes for the Design Development is proving not to be sufficient to prevent this problem from recurring.

Separately, Skanska were working on the stretch downhill from junction of Paxton Road and Perry Rise. The separation measures and temporary ramps were so inadequate that I witnessed a wheelchair user having to make a run on the road against the heavy flow of traffic including a bus, because he was unable to get back on to the pavement. (I had offered some assistance but he declined.)

Safety management systems do not seem to be one of the project's strengths either.

Copies of emails available on request.