Vol. 432 No. 6
131 Mrs. Doyle asked the Minister for the Environment if he will remove the cost of funding the maintenance of national primary route lighting from local authorities in view of the fact that they are not in a position to finance the cost and that his Department already bears the capital cost.
The full cost of installing approved public lighting schemes on national primary roads may be charged against road grants, irrespective of whether the installation is being carried out as a separate scheme or as part of a general road improvement scheme. The cost of maintenance falls to be financed from local authorities' own resources and has never been accepted as a charge against road grants. Local authorities were fully aware of this position and of the cost implications for them, when proposing lighting schemes. I have no proposals to change the existing arrangements.
