Some councils have turned off their streetlighting between midnight until 5.30am. It's a move they say will save hundreds of thousands, save energy and cut light polutation.
One such council is Shropshire Council:
Shropshire Council approved proposals to convert 70% of its streetlights to ‘part-night lighting’ back in September 2011, meaning they are lit until midnight and then switch themselves off until 5.30am.
However, not every light will be affected, and more than 6,000 lights will remain in dusk to dawn operation.
It takes 8.7 million kilowatt-hours of power (and 4,750 tonnes of carbon) to run the council’s 18,500 streetlights, illuminated signs and traffic signals every year, which is the same amount of power used by 2,600 homes in a typical year.
Converting 12,500 of these lights to part-night lighting will reduce energy use by 20% – a saving of 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of power and almost 1,000 tonnes of carbon.
Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for streetlighting, said:
"We have had detailed discussions with the emergency services and town and parish council representatives about which lights are included in the scheme, and it’s important to remember that every streetlight will still be on until midnight. A lot of work has gone into the exemption criteria, so things like dangerous road junctions are not included and other factors have being taken into consideration."
It would also appear that local police authorities have no major objections to such a move.
A West Mercia Police spokesperson added:
“A multi-agency group has been involved in these plans from the outset, and local policing teams will of course be monitoring the effects of these changes closely. However, it should be noted that the evidence from other parts of the country is that crime has actually decreased where lights have been converted to part-night lighting.”
Durham County Council currently manage and maintain 78,000 street lights and 5,500 illuminated traffic signs on the county road network.
There are no suggestions that Durham County Council plan such a move, but is it time they considered it?
What do you think?...




