The floodlights which illuminate Richmond Castle and help keep one of the town’s best used pathways as a safe and pleasant place to be have now been switched off – and they’re likely to stay that way.
The lights have been lighting up the town’s main tourist attraction to dramatic effect but have now been vandalised to a point where the electricity supply has been isolated.
Not only does lack of lighting take away one of the town’s most impressive night views, but it also makes people walking around that area feel insecure, especially when, at this time of year, it is plunged into darkness around teatime.
The path and its seating areas are a well-known gathering point for youngsters and the amount of beer cans, bottles and other litter blowing down the bank towards the river has noticeably increased during the past couple of weeks – in fact, if it wasn’t for the actions of a couple of local residents prepared to brave the sharp drop and regularly collect rubbish, the scenic approach up to the Castle would now be awash with rubbish.
The lighting was originally provided with a grant from the now disbanded Richmond Swale Valley Community Initiative (RSVCI) in order to boost the economic potential of the town’s heritage.
But it seems the vandals will win the day. The upkeep of the pathway is the responsibility of North Yorkshire County Council which has no plan to re-instate the lighting.
It is believed that just five of the lights would cost £25,000 to replace. Not only is there no budget but, without some sort of security in place to ensure they weren’t ripped out a second time, there’s no will to replace them either.
What do you think should be done? Have your say in the comments below and we’ll look into this some more in the new year.
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