ESSEX County Council has failed to hit its target of keeping 98 per cent of the county’s streetlights working properly.

Figures released by County Hall show last month, the council missed the 98 per cent target in all three south Essex areas where it is responsible for the lights.

A total of 479 of Basildon’s 23,017 streetlights were not working last month (2.08 per cent), while of Castle Point’s 7,719 lights, 192 were defective (2.49 per cent). Of Rochford’s 6,439 lights, 138 (2.14 per cent) were faulty.

The worst area for defective streetlights, however, was along parts of the A127, where 187 of the 1,135 lights for which the council is responsible were not working – 16 per cent.

Lights in Southend and Thurrock are not maintained by the county council, but by the two boroughs’ own unitary councils.

Essex County Council infrastructure director Paul Bird said: “Streetlight maintenance is a key priority and regular inspections take place to ensure the network is working to aid public safety.

“Our aim is to keep the percentage of defective lights to below two per cent of our total stock.”

Across the entire county, but excluding the A127 lights, however, the council says faulty lights averaged out at 1.89 per cent of the total.

If the A127 lights are factored it pushes the percentage up to 2.04 per cent.

Essex is responsible for the third largest number of streetlights of any council in the country and this is the first time it has revealed the number of faulty lights. The figures have no connection to the council’s controversial decision to impose a blackout in most streets between midnight and 5am – recently modified so the lights now stay on an hour later, until 1am, Monday to Saturday.

Southend Council has won a Government grant of more than £5million to replace conventional lights with LEDs, which are more energy-efficient and cheaper to run.