The great street light switch-off

Now 85% of councils dim or turn off lamps to save cash... and AA says it’s made roads more deadly

STREETS are being plunged into darkness because cash-strapped councils are increasingly turning out the lights.

Shocking figures show 85 per cent of councils across Britain are dimming or extinguishing lights – up 10 per cent from three years ago.

The number of lamps being turned off or set to shine less brightly has risen to 1.27million, compared with an equivalent of one million in 2014.

The dramatic rise – which comes despite many Scottish local authorities planning to increase council tax by up to 3 per cent – has sparked fears of a surge in crime and road accidents.

Last night the AA said the figures were ‘absolutely devastating’ and disclosed that, in some areas, councils had ordered residents to use torches to walk to the bus stop. Elderly residents compared it to the Blitz and said they had been placed under a night-time curfew.

The figures, obtained after a freedom of information request by the Liberal Democrat Party, covered 104 UK councils responsible for a total of three million street lights.

It found that 42 per cent of lights are being either switched off at night or dimmed. This compares with a survey in 2014 of 141 councils, which found 24 per cent of lights were being switched off or dimmed.

It means the proportion of councils switching off lights or dimming them has risen from 75 per cent in 2014 to 85 per cent this year.

Turning out the lights or dimming them will save councils £21.1million a year, according to estimates. Typically, councils turn off street lights between midnight and 6am – or dim them during those hours. Some dim between 8pm and 6am.

The AA said street lights being switched off had contributed to the deaths of 11 people since 2009. The motoring organisation is calling for an inquiry into the switching off of street lights on roads with 40mph limits and above.

Spokesman Luke Bosdet said: ‘When you turn off lights you put people in severe danger. They are killer roads if you turn the street lights off on fast roads.’ He said that residents in Exeter were told to carry torches to bus stops. And elderly residents in Essex said it ‘reminded them of the Blitz’.

Politicians and campaigners said the move was sparking fear among residents who were worried about being attacked in dark streets.

UK Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: ‘Street lights ensure that people are safe on our roads and feel safe walking home.’

He said funding cuts meant local authorities had to choose between the safety of someone late at night and paying for essential services.

A spokesman for Neighbourhood Watch said lighting cuts increased people’s fear of crime.

The new figures show that 88 out of 104 councils who responded either turn out or dim their lights at night. In 2014, 106 out of 141 councils surveyed either turned out or dimmed their lights.

Aberdeenshire Council has increased its overall number of street lights since 2011. However, 71 of them are switched off and 3,246 dimmed, saving the council £17,400 a year. Argyll and Bute Council has switched off 60 of its street lights and in Angus almost 5,000 have been dimmed.

Fife Council dims 28,935 out of its 65,114 street lights and saves £700,000 a year by doing so.

Midlothian Council, which already dims more than 3,000 street lights, plans to dim the remaining 15,000 in the future. This will save the local authority £80,000 a year.

A spokesman for councils’ umbrella body Cosla (the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) said: ‘Councils take their community safety role extremely seriously and do not take decisions such as this lightly. This is an operational decision for individual local authorities to take based on local need and circumstance.

‘It has to be recognised that our budgets being cut by the Scottish Government by over half a billion pounds in the last year has an impact on councils providing a full range of services.’

He said such decisions were ‘subject to full risk assessments’.

The figures come after it emerged thousands of households are facing a rise in council tax bills after several councils north of the Border vowed to increase bills.

Bills in Scotland have not gone up anywhere since 2007 but now, for the first time in a decade, the Scottish Government has given local authorities the power to raise council tax by up to 3 per cent.

Those planning an increase this spring include Glasgow City Council, City of Edinburgh Council, East Renfrewshire, Highlands and Scottish Borders.

‘Put people in severe danger’ ‘Subject to full risk assessments’