TECHNICIANS are battling to keep the lights on across the district, as they struggle with a growing streetlight repairs backlog.

Bradford Council says it is having to cope with "exceptionally heavy workloads", with people now having to wait up to four weeks for lights on their road to be fixed.

The backlog has been caused by a high number of reported faults, combined with a shortage of cherry-picker repair vehicles.

This has then been compounded by the long nights, according to Bradford Council.

A Council street lighting spokesman said: "We are three to four weeks behind with street lighting repairs because we have received a high volume of reports of faults.

" We also have a reduced number of vehicles to carry out our work, which is affecting our progress. Two of these vehicles are also currently off the road for servicing."

Now one councillor has asked why so many streetlights appear to be failing - even the new-style columns fitted relatively recently.

Councillor Howard Middleton (Lib Dem, Bolton and Undercliffe) said: "There do seem to be a lot of streetlights out, including some of the streetlights which have only gone up in the last few years.

"I know it's a difficult job to do, especially in high winds. They probably won't get much done today, for instance, because it is too windy.

"But there is a bit of a concern about whether we have got a problem with streetlights and whether or not they are failing."

Cllr Middleton said he had noticed a particularly high number of faulty lights this winter.

He said: "I have been around a long time, and I can't remember as many streetlights being out."

Last week, Cllr Middleton contacted council officers to report broken lights in Swain House Crescent and Thirlmere Gardens, Bradford, only to be told of the three-week wait.

He said on Sunday he had also spotted two lamps out in Five Lane Ends, Bradford, but hadn't yet had a chance to report them.

He said: "These are the big, new ones right on the Five Lane Ends roundabout."

But the council spokesman said there had been no significant long-term increase in the number of faults, if they looked back over the past 10 years.

She added that it was now easier than ever for people to report faulty streetlights by using a new map on the council's website, which may have contributed to the high number of reported faults they had recently received.