Last week’s Pakenham News highlighted the concerns raised about the lack of lighting along Main Street.By Callan Date
CARDINIA SHIRE Council has reacted to the concerns of Pakenham traders by replacing and fixing several broken lights in Main Street.
The long-overdue maintenance came after business owners claimed the lack of lighting along the busy shopping strip was contributing to the vandalism problem in the area.
Main Street traders Janet Pursell and Derrick Brown led the charge towards a safer shopping district by highlighting their safety concerns.
Ms Pursell, owner of Lazy Frog Gifts, spoke out last week after being astonished to find more than 15 lights not working during a night time walk.
Her shop windows suffered extensive damage during a vandalism rampage last month during which 13 businesses were attacked on one night.
Michael Ellis, council’s general manager of assets and services said council had instructed SP Austnet, the company responsible for the maintenance of the street lighting, to repair and replace any broken lights.
“Council has been advised that the majority of the lighting was fixed on Monday,” Mr Ellis said.
He said Safeway management was also in the process of making sure the lighting in their car park was operating properly.
Mr Brown said he was still concerned the wattage of the lights in Main Street was insufficient compared with other places in the Cardinia shire.
“If you drive past the new lighting in the car park of Cardinia LiFE you can see everything clear as a bell and I can’t understand why Main Street isn’t like that,” Mr Brown said.
