Pensioner Barrie Smith has seen the light – and doesn’t like it.

Kent Highways has replaced the street lamp outside his bungalow with a new LED version which is now keeping him awake at night.

Mr Smith, 70, a retired engineer, of Abbeyview Drive, Minster, said: “Replacing sodium lights with LEDs is a great idea and makes perfect sense. But I have two issues with Kent County Council.

The first issue Mr Smith has is that workers threw away a guard which had been fitted to the old light to stop the inside of his bungalow from being lit up.

Secondly, the lamppost had already been fitted with an LED light less than a year ago and that bulb was being thrown away.

The dad of two admitted: “I might come across as an irate wrinkly but they are treading a dodgy path. I don’t mind paying my council tax but I hate to see it wasted.

“This has really wound me up. It is beyond words.”

He also complained the new lights now stay on throughout the night instead of turning off just after midnight.

A spokesman for KCC said: “We have been using LED lights for the past five years but the previous ones are not compatible with our new central management system. The old lights are being sold off.”

Many roads on Sheppey are having upgrades as part of countywide project to convert 118,000 street lights to energy-efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology. The Kent contract is being carried out by Bouygues Energies and Services Infrastructure.

Work on the Island is expected to be completed by the end of April. All work should be finished by May 2019 and is expected to save taxpayers up to £5.2 million each year.

KCC decided in February 2016 to return to all-night lighting where LEDs are fitted and controlled by a central system which can automatically detect faults and dim lights by remote-control.

All residential areas will be completed first with town centres and main roads to follow.

Any lighting problems can be reported on KCC’s website www.kent.gov.uk