WHAT a performance the installation of new street lights in North Walsham is turning out to be.Large sections of the town and its environs have been looking a mess for several weeks now, with turquoise barriers encircling dug-up pavements.

WHAT a performance the installation of new street lights in North Walsham is turning out to be.

Large sections of the town and its environs have been looking a mess for several weeks now, with turquoise barriers encircling dug-up pavements.

There have been many complaints about the way Norfolk County Council and its sub-contractor, Amey, have gone about the project.

And I must admit I have a lot of sympathy with all those concerned - especially as one of the new lights has appeared directly opposite my bedroom window, towering about the front hedge, where no light was before.

Although it's been there for nearly a fortnight, it has yet to be illuminated so I don't yet know whether we'll feel as if we're sleeping in the new Wembley stadium while a night-time international match is in progress.

Restaurant owners Mark and Claire Rushen have also suffered and asked very reasonably, in my view, why on earth the contractors couldn't have completed each road in one or two days, instead of leaving large swathes of the area for prolonged periods looking as if they'd been hit by a bomb, which isn't doing the town's image any favours.

It seems as if the Digging Team move in one day and wreak their havoc, then there's a lull for several days before the Pole Team arrive to put up the lighting trunks. More days pass and a Head Team appear to stick the business end of the lights in place… and so it goes on.

'Why?' asked Claire Rushen, 'can't they all co-ordinate their work so that they follow each other down one road each day and get the job finished?'

It seems like a perfectly sensible idea to me - so no doubt it's a completely daft suggestion to make to an accountant.