THE expansion of a primary school has caused sleepless nights for a Reedley resident.

The building, to accommodate extra pupils at Reedley Primary School, was completed in October but the security lights have remained on for most of that time due to a fault.

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But after a visit to the Reedley Road site in Burnley, Lancashire County Council, which runs the school, said the problem should now be solved.

Head teacher Ruth Thompson said she has been in contact with the county council regarding who would foot the bill for electricity used due to the intermittent fault.

One resident, said: “It has been seven months of annoyance.

“They keep coming on and staying on for long periods of time. They were on continuously for around two and a half weeks at Christmas. I spoke to the contractors and a man from the county council who said it could be this or that but they couldn’t find out what was wrong.

“It’s like going to bed with a full moon every night.

“There’s one flood light on the back of the new extension which lights up the field. From my bedroom window it illuminates all the window and looks like an aircraft light with all the light and shadows it casts during the night.

“I realise there can be teething problems with new buildings but this has been going on for seven months now. It’s also a blatant waste of taxpayers’ money.”

Stephen Riley, construction and programme manager at Lancashire County Council, said staff were on site on Monday with the manufacturers of the lighting.

He said: “All the light fittings were checked and set correctly. There were two fittings that they disconnected because they were defective and they will be replaced. This should solve the problem.

“When the fire alarm is tested or the power goes out, the light fittings were going on and staying on due to a fault with the fittings. It should all be resolved now.

“Unfortunately the fault between the light and the fire alarm wasn’t discovered for some time. We are sorry for the inconvenience but hopefully we have found the fault and it has been sorted.”

Head teacher Ruth Thompson said: “I totally understand why the resident has complained, and we were concerned too. There have been some teething problems which have now been addressed.