A new survey has found that two-thirds of councils are either switching off or dimming street lights to save money.
The survey, by The Daily Telegraph, was made up of responses from 122 councils. It found 35 councils had turned lights off, 72 were dimming lights and 26 were doing both.
Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: “Councils should do a very careful risk assessment and be confident that switching off street lights will not lead to an increase in accidents or personal safety issues.”
Eddie Henry, operations manager at Southwark Council said: “It costs money to fit the kit that switches off the street light. If you switch it off between midnight and 5am, the energy company can charge you a bit more for when it’s on.”
He said that despite seeing projections, he hadn’t seen evidence of how much money is actually saved from switching off.
Henry agreed dimming can be beneficial but any changes in street lighting must be made after careful analysis, with him personally favouring a holistic approach including the social impact.
Meanwhile Cheshire East Council is due to start the second phase of changes to its 38,000 Council-operated street lights. In the last year 700 lights have been switched off and 1,000 have been dimmed by approximately 60 per cent.
Councillor David Topping, Cabinet member in charge of the environment, said: “The plan for Phase Two is to introduce part night lighting to around 3,300 ‘alternate’ lights between midnight and 5.30am in residential areas across the Borough.”
He added that approximately 3,400 lights will be trimmed and a number of lights will be dimmed.
