Homeowners in Liden were left in the dark after an accident caused streetlights in several streets in the area to stop working. 

People living in Eastmere, Windermere, Upfield, Barrington Close and Hallam Moor were plunged into total darkness for a number of weeks starting from early November.

Edale Moor’s lights were stuck on permanently and Carstairs Avenue was flicking on and off intermittently for the same period of time. 

On November 18, local councillor Curtis Flux walked around Liden with some of the concerned people living there to see the issue for himself. 

He said that the council were aware of the issue, and stated it had been caused by CityFibre’s internet infrastructure work.

“The reason for this is that CityFibre have hit the underground street lighting cable and this has caused several lights to be inactive or work intermittently. 

Swindon Borough Council and electrical engineers have attended, located where the fault is, and begun remedial work.

City Fibre confirmed in a statement that the unwanted blackout was indeed caused by them.

“Neil Madle, CityFibre’s city manager for Swindon, said: “We can confirm our build partner unfortunately struck street lighting cables during the rollout of full fibre infrastructure near the Liden area of Swindon. 

“We are currently investigating the incident and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. As the cables are council-owned, its team will be undertaking the repairs which are scheduled for this week. 

“We’d like to thank everyone for bearing with us as we deliver this critical infrastructure work which is already being used to provide thousands of broadband users in parts of Stratton, Pinehurst and Moredon with the fastest and most reliable internet services available in the UK.”

Swindon Borough Council’s team did complete some work on November 30 and light was restored to most of the affected areas, although it says more work is needed to finish the job. 

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “Unfortunately, the ongoing City Fibre rollout has resulted in some damage to street lighting cables in several streets in Liden.

“Our team has been working hard this week to repair some of the cables, but there are still a number of street lights in Windermere, Eastmere, and Barrington Close which are still to be fixed.

“Our lighting electricians will be in Liden again next week to repair any outstanding street lights.”