A FRAIL 90-year-old who campaigned to get street lighting in a Sedbury road is dismayed after the hard-won lamp was dug up and taken away.

Mrs Mavis O'Leary, whose 90th birthday is next week, fought side by side with other residents back in 1989 to win a street light in the cul-de-sac end of Grahamstown Road.

"It was a very good light, just what we wanted," she said, adding that it had been badly needed in an area where road and pavements were uneven, just as now.

"Two months ago some workmen turned up and dug up the electricity pole the light was on and carted it all away," she said.

A brand new metal pole has been installed close by with no lamp attached and the site of the original pole, which used to cast light on the side and back entrances to her nearby home, has been filled in and tarred over.

"I don't know what I will do in the winter nights. What if I want to go out? I am going to a show in Bristol soon and if I have to walk back here it is just so dark.

"I have contacted our parish council and the clerk said it was ridiculous, the light ought to have been established on another pole before they took the old one away.

"I think I am the only person left living here after our protest – the rest have all passed on or moved away."

She said her new neighbours were all much younger and she thought perhaps they didn't worry so much about the locality.

Though she has to walk with sticks she is minding her daughter in law's dogs while she is on holiday, and needs to get out every now and then – sometimes after dark.

A County Council spokesman said they were looking into the problem immediately. It appeared contractors working for the electricity company had routed some of the cables underground, and if this was the case a new pole and lamp would have to be installed as a matter of urgency.