A streetlight strategy in Milton Keynes is currently under review after concerns were raised following two deaths on grid roads where lights had been switched off.
Coroner Tom Osborne wrote to Milton Keynes Council after inquests into the deaths of Gary Tomkins,25,and Sherwin Sequeira,57,to ask for the switch-off scheme to be reconsidered.
Speaking to MK News,John Bint,cabinet member for transport,said:"The extensive Redways network enables pedestrians and cyclists to get from one end of the city to the other without needing to use a grid road.That said,the coroner's comments have prompted us to look again,in full consultation with the police,to see if we might switch back on some grid road lights,in an appropriate and economic manner."
A report will be presented to the council's decision-making cabinet in September.
An equally contentious streetlighting strategy in Nottinghamshire has led to lights being switched back on in two towns after complaints from residents.
Nottinghamshire County Council has decided that around 200 lights in Bingham and 150 in Keyworth will now remain on between midnight and 5.30am.The controversial part-night lighting scheme has involved switching streetlights off between these hours in residential areas and dimming some main roads between 10pm and 7am.Streetlights in some remote areas have been turned off completely.
Hundreds of local residents have signed a petition against the council's switch-off project,which has been created to save around£1m.The scheme involves 90,000 streetlights and should be implemented across the county by 2014.
Richard Jackson,chairman of the county council's highways and transport committee,said:"We have said all along that we would be taking a flexible approach to the programme and the fact that we are turning some lights back on in places like Bingham and Keyworth demonstrates we are prepared to respond to any issues and make changes if they are justified."
