WARRINGTON Borough Council's leader has been accused of blocking a plan to replace old and inefficient streetlamps in the town.

Birchwood councillor Nigel Balding attempted to discuss a plan to replace old or broken streetlamps in Warrington, but he says he was diverted by the leader of the council.

Cllr Balding's plan - or 'motion' - was put forward at Warrington Borough Council's full council meeting, on Monday, October 31.

Before the full council was able to discuss the motion - which would allow the council to look at replacing inefficient streetlamps, 'rather than fixing the lights one at a time over a long period' - the discussion was curtailed.

Cllr Balding says that Cllr Bowden used a 'procedural device' in order to prevent the full council from discussing the motion.

At the meeting, the council leader said that the motion was something to be discussed by the council's cabinet, not at the full council meeting.

Following this, the meeting moved on, and no discussion was given to Cllr Balding's motion to replace streetlamps.

Cllr Balding said: "In a nutshell, these old lights are difficult, time-consuming and expensive to maintain; they are less safe for the public as they can take months to fix; they produce a poorer quality of light; they don’t look as nice, and they cost more to run as they use more electricity.

“Rather than fixing the lights one at a time over a long period, this motion would have enabled WBC to discuss a programme to replace them all, just like the wider programme successfully adopted in 2011."

He added: "I’ve not seen this procedural device used before, which was used to prevent a debate by all councillors.

"Having studied the constitution, I can see that the rules are not very clear, and open to different interpretations, so I’m unhappy that I was not forewarned."

Cllr Bowden has not responded to the Warrington Guardian's request for comment.