Sutton accepts its automated 'issue closed' reply on street light reports is not acceptable, but will not replace it until the end of March 2027.

If you report a broken street light in Sutton and get a message saying the problem has been closed but may not have been fixed, the council agrees that reply is no good. It says it will not be replaced until the end of March 2027.

The admission is in the council’s written answers to public questions at the Sutton South, Cheam and Belmont Local Committee on 3 September 2026, published as an addendum to that agenda.

A resident who has been reporting faulty lights, bollards and signs for several years set out the reply they keep receiving. In the council’s own words on its system, it reads:

The Highways Team have notified us that this issue has been closed in their system but may not have been completely resolved. This may be for a number of reasons, for example: it may be a duplicate issue, it may have been passed to an external contractor, or, they may have inspected and determined that no action was required. Unfortunately we do not have further details of the outcome and we will not receive any further update from the Highways system.

The resident asked when that would change. They also recorded that Sarah Rye, the council’s Director of Highways, Transportation and Regulatory Services, had accepted at a meeting on 17 July 2026 that the wording was not acceptable and was being changed, and that it was still being sent a month later.

The answer, and the date attached to it

Sarah Rye answered in the addendum. The Highways team is working with IT and communications colleagues to rewrite the automated notifications. She explained why it is not quick:

  • the workflows have to be reconfigured across two separate computer systems
  • the new wording has to distinguish a job that is genuinely finished from one where an investigation has ended but further works orders have been raised
  • contractors have to be consulted and the systems tested

Her answer gives a completion date: the end of March 2027. That is about eight months after the July meeting at which the council accepted the wording was wrong.

What the council says it aims to do now

The published service standard is on the council’s own street lighting page. It says the council aims to inspect and resolve most issues within 10 working days, and to inspect urgent faults within two hours. Urgent means a light that is leaning or has fallen, has its inspection door missing, has exposed wires, or is smoking or sparking. Those go to 020 8770 5000, not the online form.

The council also says it tries to fold reported repairs into work it already has planned in the area, to save time and cost. That is a reasonable way to run a lighting service. It is also the most likely reason a report is marked closed while the light is still out.

Some lit signs will not be relit at all

The same set of answers contains a second change that will be more visible on the ground.

The council’s Principal Engineer for Street Lighting, in the Kingston and Sutton Shared Environment Service, told the resident on 12 August 2026 that the council is finalising a traffic sign manual to set out which signs actually need to be illuminated. Until that is settled:

  • faulty internally illuminated signs are being replaced with external sign lights and new sign plates
  • illumination is being prioritised where it is clearly necessary, the examples given being no entry and give way signs
  • where the case for illumination is less clear, work is being held off pending further guidance, to avoid paying to fit a sign light that is then removed

The policy has a name and a date. It is the Traffic Sign De-illumination Policy, and the council says it will be published on its website by January 2027.

There is nothing unlawful about this. Under section 97 of the Highways Act 1980, a highway authority may provide lighting for a highway. It is a power, not a duty. The practical effect for residents is that between now and January 2027, an unlit sign in your street may be waiting for a decision rather than a repair, and the council has not published which signs are in that category.

What it means for you

  • Report faults anyway. The map-based forms for street lights and lit signs are the only route into the system, and the closure message does not mean nobody looked.
  • Treat “closed” as “unknown”. On the council’s own account, that message can mean fixed, duplicated, passed to a contractor, or judged to need no action. If the light is still out after 10 working days, report it again or ring 020 8770 5000.
  • Ring, do not type, for anything dangerous. A leaning or sparking column is a two-hour job, and the online form is not the fast route.
  • An unlit sign may not be a fault. If an illuminated sign in your road goes dark and stays dark, it may be one the council has decided to leave until the de-illumination policy lands in January 2027.
  • You can ask the council directly. Public questions to your local committee get a written answer if they are submitted at least five working days before the meeting, and the answer is published. This one was. The committee calendar lists the dates.

Timeline of Sutton street lighting commitments: the council accepted the automated wording was not acceptable on 17 July 2026, the sign de-illumination note was given on 12 August 2026, the Traffic Sign De-illumination Policy is due by January 2027, and the automated reply is due to be replaced by the end of March 2027, against a published target of 10 working days to resolve most faults

If the problem in your street is a dug-up road rather than a dark one, our page on roadworks and travel across the borough tracks the current closures, and parking in Sutton covers permits, bays and suspensions.

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