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The County Council has a program to cut its costs because central government has reduced the funding for local government. As a part of this program it is proposing to switch off or dim street lights across the county between the hours of midnight and 6am.
The Parish Council has considered this and, given that the lights will only be switched off at times when people are at home and that research on the impact of such a change on crime is equivocal, decided not to challenge this.
It has made one exception and that is for lights which illuminate walkways where there is deemed to be a risk of injury if they were otherwise completely dark. The Parish Council has asked that such lights be dimmed and not switched off completely.
The Parish Council recognises that some residents may prefer better lighting through the night and suggests that the use of PIR lighting on individual properties would be a good way to respond to this.
(Note: not all lights in the Community will be switched off or dimmed. Lights on main roads and at junctions will remain lit. And many lights have not been fitted with the new controller technology and so must remain lit despite what CCC would like to do).
I realise that this is controversial, but perhaps it will grant a better view of the night sky.
Good news. What a waste of energy. By midnight almost everyone is home—and the few of us out later can cope with darker streets. It is natural for night to be dark. I for one will sleep better without the light of a thousand suns blazing into the house. Maybe I can open the curtains and enjoy the stars.
I would object to dimmed lighting earlier than midnight, because many people walk or cycle home at this time.
Seems like a reasonable idea, reducing carbon and saving money. I suppose the concern is crime levels, but various studies show this to be un founded. Keeping the lights on key junctions and walkways for safetey reasons is a good idea.
Excellent idea and ditto to all the comments given above.