‘They Were Right To Be Angry’

The title photo is by Peter. Creative Commons license. CC BY-SA 2.0 

Earlier this year there were protests in Canterbury, Kent, when the local authorities proposed to replace characterful historic lamp-posts with cheap and ugly generic steel poles, fitted with heritage-style embellishments.

According to a BBC news report on 6th January The Canterbury Society was fighting to save the city’s historic Victorian lamp-posts which were built, the Society said, by an ironworks founded and located in the city for almost 130 years.

Unfortunately a similar, indeed worse, lack of vision has also been displayed over the years in Cambridgeshire. Look at the image of a replacement that took place in an otherwise very pretty south Cambridgeshire village. These replacements won’t even have the benefit of any ‘heritage style embellishments’.

Even Cambridge City, with its unique architecture and world class status, is not immune. See the examples where bland has been replaced with blander. Opportunities missed.  A lack of vision, will and poor contract specifications have a lot to answer for.

Whilst a relatively small part of the Cambridge historic core benefits from the stylish lamp-posts known as the ‘candles’ this is about as far as it goes.

Otherwise there is a mishmash. Travelling south beyond the Fitzwilliam Museum down along Trumpington Street the candles abruptly stop before the Lensfield Road junction. Turn onto the Fen Causeway and an otherwise beautiful stretch of road is disfigured by bland, utility lamp-posts. Think how much better it could be.

As with much street furniture and signage many local authorities seem blind to the visual importance of lamp-posts, blind to the difference they make to the feel and atmosphere of a place.

Our neighbours just across the border in North Hertfordshire put us to shame. Note the efforts made in Royston. Anyone would think this was the world class tourist destination, not Cambridge, measured solely by its attention to lamping. For here at least there has been an honest attempt to provide some elegance in the town centre in streets where characterful older properties sit side by side with fairly unattractive infills.  But they have made the most of what they have, unlike in Cambridge.