Criticism is a turn off for engineers

13 February 2008

Lighting and highway engineers and have defended the use of council trials to assess the benefits of switching off and dimming streetlights during the night.

Both the County Surveyors’ Society and the Institution of Lighting Engineers have criticised press coverage for stressing cost savings that might be made by councils and ignoring the key benefits of reducing light pollution and carbon emissions.

The issue attracted major headlines after the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers highlighted concerns about a possible increase in vandalism and burglary in suburban areas where streetlights were switched off during the night.

But Roger Elphick, chair of the CSS Street Lighting Group and of the UK Lighting Board, said: ‘One of the reasons for the current trials by a number of local authorities is to see what the impact is and what the public reaction is, so it’s not wrong to run these trials.’ The CSS launched five research projects to improve energy management and minimise the carbon footprint from streetlighting last year to develop best practice guidance for the lighting industry and local authorities.

Results are to be published this summer as part of a follow-up to the earlier Invest to save guidance published by the Lighting Board in 2006.

Mr Elphick acknowledged that councils faced pressures to reduce costs but told Surveyor: ‘There is a balance to be struck between road safety and crime-reduction benefits, and that is why the trials are so important. There are lots of options available for reducing energy costs. Lights can by dimmed or set so that they come on later and go off earlier, or may be turned off in rural areas.’

Dave Coatham, technical services manager at ILE, told Surveyor: ‘Local authorities need to keep a balanced view on these issues and not be swayed by dramatic press headlines.

‘It is important that the results of these trails are properly assessed and councils consult with residents.’

Alison Quant, CSS vice-president and director environment at Hampshire County Council, stressed: ‘The Daily Mail article presents the switching-off of streetlights at night as a cost-saving issue, whereas, in practice, part-night lighting and dimming are not likely to save money in the short term because of higher capital costs, but could have quite big impacts on our carbon footprint and reduce light pollution.’

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