COUNCIL chiefs bungled a major street lighting scheme at a busy York junction - by failing to provide electricity.

The project to install the lights in Haley's Terrace, York, cost taxpayers £10,700 and caused massive traffic disruption in the area.

But, more than nine months later, the lights are still to be switched on because the order to contractors was "lost or misplaced" to equip them with a power supply.

City of York Council chiefs admitted the error today and said they hoped contractors, Integrated Utility Services, would be able to install the dozen street lights with a power supply by the end of this month. But councillors and residents today blasted the handling of the scheme, saying it would cause further disruption to pedestrians and motorists because the road would have to be dug up again.

The installation of the new street lights was part of a wider £127,000 scheme to provide new traffic lights and junction improvements at the busy thoroughfare.

Clifton councillor Ken King, who first raised the issue with council engineers, said: "It has been one bungle and another.

"Clearly someone has made a big mistake and the council should be pulling out all the stops to get it sorted."

Coun David Scott, who also represents the area, said: "This scheme has been a complete let-down. I'm concerned about the lapses on this. The connection of the lighting will cause severe disruption."

A Haley's Terrace resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "How on earth did we arrive at a situation where this busy junction was partially closed for several weeks, causing massive congestion in this area of the city and inconvenience to local residents, whilst the traffic control system and road lighting was installed. Now we find electrical power was not provided for the lighting."

A City of York Council spokeswoman said: "Contractors have been booked to connect the new street lights for some time. The old lights will not be disconnected until the new lights are on. We appreciate that this will involve some further inconvenience for residents as small trenches will have to be dug and we can only apologise for that.

"We hope that the work will be completed as soon as possible and are working with the electricity company to ensure any inconvenience is kept to a minimum."

A spokesman for CE Electric UK, which runs IUS, said the company first received an order on October 13, 2006, to connect a number of street lights in Haley's Terrace. He said: "We are working closely with the council to arrange optimum traffic management in the area, thereby minimising disruption."