Hundreds of street lights in Swansea are to be turned back on as part of a three-year plan to roll out more efficient lighting across the county. Under the plan, the council said the 'vast majority' of columns that were taken out of action in a money-saving initiative by the previous council would be brought back into use.
Some 2,000 street lights had originally been turned off across the county by the Lib-Dem led coalition in a bid to cut its energy bills. A further 650 lights were also turned off and columns removed because they were "structurally unsound".
However, the decision was met with protests by locals, not least the residents of Mayals who won a fight last year to have their lights put back on after suffering an increase in house and shed burglaries.
Now the new Labour administration, which took over earlier this summer, has said it plans to turn the lights back on in many residential areas, and roll out energy efficient lamps in 27,000 lanterns across the county.
June Burtonshaw, Swansea Council cabinet member told the South Wales Evening Post that streetlights were part of the "fabric of neighbourhoods".
She said: "Street lights help people to see what's around them at night, they allow pedestrians to be more visible to motorists and they help people to feel safe."
Funding for the programme is said to be coming from a grant from the Welsh Government – agreed before the local elections — amounting to £10million over the next three years for highways projects.
