Council to keep lights out in the early morning
CAERPHILLY council will not review its decision to switch off thousands of street lights in early-morning hours across the county borough.
Opposition parties in Caerphilly had put forward the motion after more than 200 residents submitted complaints to the county borough council over the policy.
Caerphilly County Borough Council has already switched off 14,200 lights from midnight to 5am, and a further 8,495 will follow by the end of this year.
In a full council meeting, Cllr Kevin Etheridge, who proposed the motion, said: “It was written because myself and my colleague received between 40 to 60 complaints from residents in Blackwood.”
He argued that there were no risk assessments on the original decision and it was relying on public views from a consultation that was carried out in 2010 with only 1,448 responses.
“We need to be the voice of our communities and we should listen to the views of our people,” he said.
The motion was put forward by the Independent group and was supported by Caerphilly’s Plaid Cymru Group.
The leader of Caerphilly Plaid, Cllr Colin Mann, said: “The Labour council has claimed frequently over the years that it is a listening council – well it has turned a deaf ear to the public on street lights.
“Over 200 people have even taken the time to write in to object to the earlymorning lights switch-off, as well as thousands more signing petitions.
“I have heard the need to save carbon mentioned frequently in connection with this debate. I was working on the carbon agenda in this council 20 years ago – long before it was fashionable.
“Plaid supported the switch to LED lighting which is producing massive savings – both in carbon and money.”
Cllr Mann highlighted the importance of wellbeing and the impact it would have on the vulnerable, elderly and shift workers.
He said: “There’s a world of difference between switching off lights in the heart of communities where people live than on a bypass or industrial estate, where there are no homes.
“Labour should halt all further switchoffs and have a radical rethink about switching the lights back on as soon as possible.”
Marcus Lloyd, the council’s head of infrastructure, said when fully operational at the end of December, the LED lights and part-night lighting would save 2,840 tonnes of carbon a year.
He said: “If you’d want to take out the night lighting part, that would cost around £300,000 but what you need to be aware of is it would be a significant carbon increase as a result of doing that and also a cost increase of £300,000 per annum for energy going from that part of the night light element. The savings we are making count for about £940,000 a year.”
Caerphilly’s Labour group said it was committed to protecting the environment.