RESIDENTS in an area of Brierfield have urged the council to improve the street lighting near their homes before somebody is seriously injured or killed.

A petition has been submitted, expressing concern about safety. It states: "We strongly request that a street lamp is provided for residents as without it we feel it may bring a tragedy."

They have asked the for a lamp to be placed in Railway Terrace and the back street to the rear of numbers 12 to 38 Railway Terrace and numbers 33 to 61 of Sackville Street.

But Jacqueline Walsh, highways, engineering and design manager, said that if a lamp was to be placed behind the houses, the back street would have to be closed to traffic.

She said: "They want to put one in the front street but it is private and unadopted and they would have to pay for that. If we put one at the back we would have to close the back street for safety reasons but they say they still want to park there.

"It's such a narrow back street and if someone hits a lighting column there's a chance of them killing themselves or someone else.

"It is obviously important that a good system of street lighting is maintained to alleviate residents concerns over safety. However any street lighting that is installed must be erected in a safe location."

In a report to the Brierfield and Reedley Committee, which will meet to discuss the matter on January 8, she said the cost of a column in this location would be in the region of £4,000 with an additional cost of £500 to install concrete bollards to close the street.

She recommended that a new column and concrete bollards should be installed, accepting that it blocks acces through the back street, that the residents of Railway Terrace should be advised that it is not possible to provide street lighting on the front street and that funding for street lighting in Railway Terrace be requested from the Community Safety Partnership.