Good street lighting is vitally important not only to road safety but also to security. It helps to reduce crime and the fear of crime. Without effective street lights criminals are much less likely to be spotted as they go about their business. People feel less safe as they walk along the pavements.

The police view that adequate street lighting needs to be at the top of the crime-prevention agenda is backed by studies showing that every £1 spent on improving it can lead to a £4 reduction in the cost of crime and road accidents.

Given their importance, it is deeply worrying that a short stroll along any side street or main road is likely to reveal several lights out of action. And to that situation must now be added a report that two out of three Bradford lamp-posts are out of date and in danger of breaking down.

This particular problem, like so many others nowadays, appears to be down to a shortage of funding as well as under-investment in street lighting over the years. A lot of money needs to be spent to get the lights up to standard and keep them that way, yet none comes from the Government specifically for that purpose. Instead the Council has to raise its own money and use some allocated by Whitehall for general road improvements.

Either the authority needs to give a higher priority to lighting and divert money from other areas of road improvements, or the Government must provide more cash and ring-fence it to be used solely for that purpose.