Wellington City Council revealed 17,000 LED street lamps installed in 2018 across the city have faulty adaptors which are prone to snapping. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
A Wellington City Councillor wants all street lights to be checked for malfunctioning adapters, including ones that are not council owned.
A large street lamp described as the size of an armchair fell near the old Ministry of Education building on Sunday.
Wellington City Council says it does not own it and would check the state of other light clusters close by.
The old government building was empty after it was vacated last year in May for earthquake strengthening.
The armchair sized lamp was one of 17 heavy street lamps that have dropped to the ground in the capital in the past four years, 161 were reported as drooping.
In February, the council said only a small handful of lights were at risk of falling but has since backtracked on that claim, saying it forgot to factor in wind.
Last month it said 17,000 street lamps were at risk of snapping.
So far about 1000 street lamps have been fixed while another 3200 in high-risk areas were being prioritised by the council.
The lamp has fallen off this Wellington street light due to a faulty adaptor. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Pukehīnau/Lambton Ward Councillor Tamatha Paul is encouraging landlords to get in touch with the council to come up with a solution together.
"I think that it's really important that we kind of all work together to solve it because no ones been hurt so far but it could be catastrophic if somebody were to be under the street light at that exact time," Paul said.
Environment conditions were the cause of the faults, she said.
The situation would be a good learning curve for other cities looking to transition towards the LED network, she said.
"Age hasn't played a factor in our streetlights. A lot of ours were replaced two years ago when we were trying to transition from to an LED network because of the energy efficiency and the safety benefits of having LED lighting - being able to adjust it, make it brighter, make it darker and it just illuminates so much more of the street.
"But it also caused inconvenience for residents living around those areas because it was glaring into their bedrooms."
The council was working quickly for the public's safety, she said.
"Almost every councillor has asked lots and lots of questions to figure out the public safety component of it and we're working really hard to prioritise removing the adapters in the most vulnerable areas - so high wind corridors and areas that are more vulnerable to weather."