More street lights to be turned off at night

PARISH councils are lining up to switch off a large number of street lights during the night to save money and cut carbon emissions.

Currently 14 parishes within South Gloucestershire are set to join the programme, on top of those where lamps already go off for between four and five hours after midnight.

The village of Charfield was the first to have areas in darkness when it volunteered to host a trial, leading to the switch-off there becoming permanent.

Thornbury has just joined in the scheme after its lights were adjusted, while some sections of the Avon Ring Road have been unlit for a year.

Heather Goddard, South Gloucestershire Council’s executive member for communities, said: “The switch-off trial for the ring road has now been in place for 12 months. To date there have been no issues raised. Crime figures and road safety figures have remained static.

“We have 30,000 street lights that create approximately 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and have energy costs of £1.2 million.

“The part-night lighting already installed is reducing energy use by £27,000 a year and cutting 17 tonnes of CO2.

“During the year 2011-12, the planned installations will further reduce energy use by £63,000 a year and cut 48 tonnes of CO2.

“Return on investment is approximately one-and-a-half years in most cases, with the return for main roads less than 12 months.”

Of the parishes waiting to start, the first are likely to begin in April after consultation has finished, continuing until May 2012.

In Charfield, where the experiment started in the summer of 2009 and has been welcomed by residents, about two-thirds of lights are turned off. The others stay on for safety reasons in those areas where it is felt lighting should remain throughout the night.

On the ring road, lights at junctions and roundabouts stay on throughout the night when the lights on straight stretches of the ten-mile road are turned off.

The scheme is considered a bonus to householders, as well as helping the environment, as they pay for the electricity used through their council tax.