SHARP-SIGHTED observers of Abergavenny's town centre scene may have noticed the place is out of sync with its street lights.

For many months the town has been over-exposed with a string of lamps throwing out their power-wasting beams on bright days when the sun is doing the job for them.

It's a bright and cheerful place, but the over-illumination seems a bit extreme and - some critics say - a waste of money at a time when authorities should be watching every penny, especially in light of its money-saving decision to switch off street lights in many residential areas after midnight.

Mad dogs and Englishman come out in the midday sun - and in Abergavenny so do the street lights.

Richard Cox, of Bryn-y-Gwenin, is one of a number who have expressed concern at the town's surfeit of spotlight.

'I reported this in August 2014 and again in October. Nothing has been done,' he announced in despair this week.

By his calculation the town boasted 23 street lights switched on in the middle of the day, well before dusk and sunset when they were most useful.

He hesitated to think how much this power profligacy was costing the lit-up council.

He reckoned that if one light cost 50p a day it would have cost Council Tax payers nearly £350 in the last month alone.

"Many of these lights have been on for 24 hours for many years. Maybe if council managers and councillors had to pay this cost themselves something would have been done," he argued.

Cue Monmouthshire County Council whose job it is to shine a light on our world and show us the way ahead - preferably at night.

Street Lighting Engineer Roger Joy said on Tuesday, "The council's street lighting inspector is carrying out a maintenance survey in Abergavenny today."

And he promised, "He will ensure that action will be taken to fix lights on during daylight hours.

"Each light is charged at a set rate so no extra cost is incurred.

"We are grateful to those residents who report incidents of streetlights on during the day to their local one stop shop."

The council, it appears, has seen the light...