Oxfordshire plans to switch off streetlights

13 August 2008
 
Streetlights across Oxfordshire could be switched off as part of county council plans to cut down its carbon emissions.

Town and parish councils are being consulted on the plans, which would see streetlights switched off on short sections of suitable road between 12:30am and 5:30am.

Buckinghamshire and Essex county councils have implemented switch-off trials, with early indications of success in terms of crime and accident reduction. Powys in Wales is also set to switch off two-thirds of its 14,000 streetlights to reduce expenditure.

Oxfordshire says local councils have indicated they would support such a plan. Implementation for schemes which get the final go ahead would take place in spring 2009, and if all the schemes went ahead as proposed, savings would be around £7,835 a year, with carbon emissions savings of 45,500kg.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for transport, councillor Ian Hudspeth, said: ‘It is important that we reduce our carbon emissions and make financial savings, wherever possible.

‘We are being very careful to consult with parish councils in areas where we have proposals for part-night lighting. We don’t want to switch streetlights off at night where there are any safety concerns, or where residents raise other potential problems.’

Essex County Council said it would review its switch-off trials in Maldon and Uttlesford within the next few weeks, but a spokesman said crime had fallen in both areas by about one-third.

The first 10 months of Buckinghamshire County Council’s three-year trial saw a 50% reduction in collisions – from 12 to six – on seven sites, compared with the 10 months prior to the switch-off. But a spokesperson said it was impossible to compare like-with-like at such an early stage, given seasonal change in the hours of darkness. ‘Accurate analysis can only be carried out over a three-year period which is why we have a three-year trial in place.’ The second phase on a further 39 sites began in May this year.

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