Bright lights of Heygate continue to shine

Southwark Council has come under criticism for paying £22,000 a year to keep streetlights shining at the doomed Heygate Estate.

Only a handful of people - 40 at the last count - remain in the sprawling estate, which is now home to 1,200 empty flats.

The Evening Standard said: "The cost includes bulbs that remain lit on dozens of walkways and stairwells where no one can go because they have been completely sealed off with steel doors to thwart squatters. Workmen failed to disconnect the lights first and the council says it is now cheaper to leave them on rather than unseal each landing."

But I agree with councillor Ian Wingfield, who said the lights are there for resident's safety - and surely for anyone else who might find themselves there.

Can you imagine if the council turned off all the lights and it became a haven for youths/prostiutes/general undesirables? A mugging or even a murder in a derelict estate that the council NEGLECTED TO KEEP SAFE?