Residents have attacked plans to rip-out period Victorian lampposts outside listed buildings and replace them with modern street lights.

Kathleen Stanford, 67, who lives in Castle Road, Epsom, which is home to many Grade Two listed buildings, was horrified to see workmen removing one of the historic lamppost from outside her home last week.

She said: "It’s totally out of keeping with the character of this road.

"They are all Grade Two listed buildings and they are really old.

"They dug a whole which has been left there for well over a week which is quite dangerous really.

"It seems a shame to destroy the history of Epsom."

Work was halted after concerns were raised that Mrs Stanford’s road was located in a conservation area, but is expected to resume shortly after it was confirmed the road was not exempt.

The work is part of a county wide scheme to replace or refurbish 89,000 street lights across Surrey in the next five years in partnership with private company Skanska Laing at a cost of £79.3m, financed by a private finance initiative grant from central government.

The scheme is predicted to save £12m in taxpayer’s money and 60,000 tonnes of carbon.

A spokesperson for Surrey County Council said: "We have explained to the resident that we cannot continue to maintain ageing streetlights on an ad hoc basis.

"In fact the cast iron columns are no longer considered safe for operatives to work on, so the electricity companies will not do so.

"The common sense approach is therefore to install new standard columns for a consistent look, and the work in Castle Road will be completed in the near future."

Jane Race, a resident of Treemount Court in Epsom, where street lights have already been replaced, added: "I would argue there are probably more important things that they could be fixing at this point in time."

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