A dispute over the agreed costs of the project with Lightways Contracts resulted in the contractor’s failure to carry out the maintenance scheme.

The local authority made the decision to bring in additional support to carry out street light maintenance at the weekend to ensure that lighting faults do not become an issue of public safety.

The dispute could have resulted in the council paying significantly more than the agreed cost for carrying out repairs.

An independent adjudicator issued findings on 23 January which upheld the council’s position and instructed Lightways to pay the full costs of the adjudication.

Councillor Mike Holmes, convener of Renfrewshire Council’s procurement sub-committee, said: “Following the adjudicator’s findings in the council’s favour, we expect Lightways Contracts to fulfil their contract as agreed.

“However, this unnecessary dispute has disrupted the service that we expect to be provided to Renfrewshire residents.

“Our first priority is to ensure that faulty street lights do not become an issue of public safety.

“We have therefore taken swift action to bring in additional lighting maintenance contractors to deal with outstanding street light repairs and, as long as weather conditions permit, we expect the backlog of repairs to be cleared within two weeks.”