Street lights will stayon longer say council

The council is looking to save £1.7m from its annual £5m street-lighting budget and will turn off some lights in residential areas for part of the night. Although the majority of these lights will go out at midnight, the authority had initially planned to turn off some at 10pm.

The changes comes after complaints from members of the public and will leave all ‘part-night’ lights on until midnight - after which time there is significantly less traffic.

The council says the move will minimise inconvenience to the majority of road users, while still bringing in significant savings.

Coun Richard Davies, Executive Member for Highways and Transport, said: “The council’s budget has been cut by more than £100m over the last few years and we need to save a further £41m this year.

“We simply can’t afford to do everything we’ve done in the past.

“Streetlights are expensive, and, frankly, many of them do not need to be on during the small hours of the morning – all they are doing is burning taxpayers’ money.

“The evidence shows that these particular lights can be turned off for part of the night without jeopardising people’s safety. And by saving money in this way, we can protect other vital areas, like the pothole budget.”

While the county council is responsible for streetlights, East Lindsey District Council is in charge of footway lights and some could be switched off- again because of funding.