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500 additional streetlights will be turned off at night to save Wokingham Borough Council £9,000
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Cost-saving street light switch-off scheme expanded

By Jon Nurse
February 18, 2013

A cost-saving scheme switching off hundreds of streetlights across the borough has been expanded to 146 new roads.

The part night lighting scheme turns off street lamps between midnight and 5.30am in a bid to cut carbon emissions and save funds for frontline services.

On Monday night 500 more lights were switched off, a change that could save Wokingham Borough Council up to £9,000 per year.

Around 10 per cent of the 16,000 council-operated street lights are now not powered during the early hours, including lamps along Wokingham’s Woosehill Lane, Bishops Drive and Alderman Willey Close.

Praise for big switch-off amid crime concerns

Burglaries spark plea over blackout

Answering whether the expansion of the scheme will just increase the number of crimes and traffic accidents, the council insists on its website the safety and wellbeing of residents is the biggest consideration in the scheme.

Not all lights on each street are switched off, with an extensive exemption list including locations near major junctions, roundabouts, level crossings, speed humps and traffic lights ruling out the majority of lights.

Residents' crime fears over streetlight switch-off

Councillor Keith Baker, executive member for highways and planning, said: “The original part night lighting scheme was a year-long pilot to establish any issues that might arise from the trial.

“During this pilot, remote control mechanisms were added to the original scheme. We worked extremely closely with the police, parish and town councils and borough councillors on the scheme.

“Safeguards were put in place to make sure essential lights were excluded from the scheme and a comprehensive set of criteria was developed.

“An ad hoc review mechanism was also set up with the police when issues arose during the trial. Both these pilots were extremely successful so a decision was made to expand the scheme to eventually cover all roads within the borough.

“This is the next step of that expansion; utilising low energy lights and the remote control mechanism being fitted with the full conversion taking several years to complete.”

As part of the scheme the council is upgrading its older street lights to use more energy efficient equipment and white lighting.

In 2011 The Wokingham Times revealed the borough’s streetlight switch-off had saved the authority £15,000 since 2008, however the trial cost taxpayers £70,000.

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Most recent user comments 15 of 15

Bingley - unfortunately your facts are incorrect. There are no "time clocks" being fitted whatsoever. What is being fitted are low energy LED lights and remote control / monitoring units to the light heads.

The remote monitoring units provide a direct link back to Shute End and provides automatic notification of failngs in the unit. The remote control section allows the setting of the period of darkness frmom that central point. This allows the council lights back on if requested. For example the police may well want them back on following a major incident.

Regarding safety, the police have been totally involved in this whole process. Every light which has the potential of being turned off is checked with the police from a crime and anti social perspective. Any that they had a concerned were eliminated from the project.

Cllr Keith Baker
23/02/2013 at 09:30

Come on! The Council will tell you there is no difference between summer and winter daylight time. You've heard of the children having Baker days off school, well now you've heard of the Baker hour.

Silver Royal, Woodley
20/02/2013 at 22:19

Do the time clocks need changing twice a year?

Beef Cake Argh!
20/02/2013 at 09:12

Live in a road where the lights have now gone off at night for a very long time. No objection to this IF it saved ratepayers money. But as always with Councillor Baker youneverget the full facts. The Council fitted a time clock on EACH column to be able to do this at some £300 each. This means going without lights is likely to cost us money for the rest of my time. Another scheme that seems to be based on PR more than reality.

Bingley, Woodley
20/02/2013 at 08:01

@Martin Cairns - I believe these are being trialled in Reading. I have seen some along roads in the University area. Their light seems much brighter to look at, but much dimmer at street level. It also doesn't travel as far. I've never quite worked that one out.

mavdo, Wokingham
19/02/2013 at 10:56

I have to say that I approve of this - and our street is one of the 146 roads now effected.

It seems that this is being done "intelligently" and problem area's are not being impacted, I presume that if issues do result from this in any given area - the lights can be turned back on again locally.

Chunks of C02 are being saved, secondly some cash, and thirdly light pollution is being reduced which is an insidious problem which I suspect isn't, fully understood.

Far Far Away, Thames Valley
19/02/2013 at 09:59

Great idea to switch lights off in the small hours. They waste electricity lighting areas for very little use. There must be scope for much more intelligent systems as others have suggested - eg with dimming, activity sensors etc alonmg with the use of LEDs. I think the cost of this in the long term would be better value than a simple switching off for a short term saving.

N1gel, Winnersh
18/02/2013 at 21:45

In Fleet we are having new energy saving white LED lights replacing the older style street lights, cost and energy saving and they look a lot nicer, surprised more places aren't trying this.

Martin Cairns
18/02/2013 at 16:57

I think it is an excellent idea. I have visited lots of European towns and cities where lighting is more strategically used and it has never been a problem. In fact it is nice to sleep in true darkness not with the orange glow of street lights

K Huffmum
18/02/2013 at 16:11

Can't wait to see how the 1.9% Council Tax increase will be spent.

Beef Cake Argh!
18/02/2013 at 13:30

(that reminds me, mavdo - what is it exactly that costs £70k? That being quoted as the cost of running this trial, and presumably the cost of rolling out borough-wide would be even greater)

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
18/02/2013 at 13:21

I'd like to see the numbers and when we can expect to see a break even date. How/why has the remote control element been included? What benefit does this bring? When would solar powered/part powered lighting make economic sense? What is the carbon emission target, or is this simply a knock-on benefit dressed-up so that WBC look 'eco friendly'?

Beef Cake Argh!
18/02/2013 at 13:20

I support a reduction in cost, but not plunging residential streets into *complete* darkness, as per AW-Close. Turn some to most of them off, and on main roads with no houses, but not every single light where people might want to walk home.

What would be good is if we could have dimming lights, as per some modern car parks.

If it costs £70k to save £15k/year, we'll have to wait 5 years to see any benefit though.

mavdo, Wokingham
18/02/2013 at 13:06

Has anyone seen the statistics for this, so that we can know the effect? The fear when you turn street lights off is that crime and accident rates will rise. Have they? Do we know? Does the council know? Or are they just going to roll out the scheme to more areas without that knowledge, potentially causing injuries, thefts and deaths? if so, "the council insists on its website the safety and wellbeing of residents is the biggest consideration in the scheme" doesn't quite ring true.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
18/02/2013 at 12:41

I have some support for this idea but..... there are 400 houses on our estate with street lights on throughout the night except for one of the 2 very dim (energy saving) lights in our Close. We also have the highest incidence of AS behaviour on our estate mostly registered with the police. Out of all the lights on our estate only one is now turned off overnight whilst all the others for 400 house remain on without any plan to turn them off. Does not make sense to me!