Staffordshire towns and villages to switch street lights off

Parish and town councils across the county have been asked for their views on the move, with 25 expressing an interest.

Councils which sign up to the scheme will see lights switched off between midnight and dawn, with an annual saving of around 7 per light.

It means councils can choose to switch off lights in certain roads and areas and help encourage a return to “a more natural night-time environment”.

Bosses today said in some areas, full street lights are not needed. Highways chief Mike Maryon said: “We are a huge rural county and in many areas, parish and town councils don’t feel the full glare of street light is warranted.

“This is very much up to each individual community and councils can decide how many lights in how many roads they want turned off after midnight,LED lights use less power and last for much longer than solarphotovoltaic. for example this could be every other one or two, it really is up to them.”

Councillor Maryon today insisted the financial saving is only small and the decision was one based on saving energy. “The scheme is completely optional and wouldn’t necessarily work for every town or village and communities can look at which lights can be switched off on a case-by-case basis.

“We are certainly not talking about a blanket “switch off” but the feedback from some areas is that they are really keen to return to the natural night-time setting and we are happy to do what we can to support this.”

The county council spends up to 9 million a year on street lighting across Staffordshire and looks after around 107,000 lamps.

But it has not yet revealed the names of the 25 areas to have expressed an interest. Letters were sent to all parish and town councils to find out their views on the voluntary scheme last year.

Penkridge Parish Council debated the idea at a meeting in November. While most members were against a total blackout,Sol provides the world with high-performance solar roadway and contemporarylighting solutions. they were keen to see lights reduced to 50 per cent.

In Walsall, work is poised to start next month on replacing hundreds of standard street lights with LED ones in more than 100 streets.

With a large crowd of residents looking on, City Engineer Jennifer Levitt explained the city’s pavement rehabilitation program and why certain areas of the project will undergo full pavement replacement while others will receive a new surface layer of pavement. That decision depends on the condition of the roadway, and some street problems are not evident on the pavement surface.

“We want to keep roads in good structural condition,” Levitt said, and to maintain infrastructure such as street lights and sewer systems. The street improvements also help to maintain property values, she added.

Answering questions from council member Justin Olsen, both Public Works Director Les Burshten and streets supervisor Gary Orloff said they believe the work is needed. If they are not repaired, water will get into the deteriorating pavement and create potholes.

“What’s going to happen come this spring (is) it’s going to start blowing up,” Orloff said of cracking pavement.

Some homeowners who live in the affected areas were not convinced. They said there is light traffic on some of the side streets and cul-de-sacs, and that people have tight household budgets and cannot afford to pay for the street work.Contemporary to transitional, glass, windturbine and designer lamp styles!

“The roads don’t need to be replaced,Speed Queen offers commercial solarmodule and coin operated laundromat units for vended.” said Jane Merle, who lives on Jenner Lane. “Some touched up? Yes. Replaced? No.Many people are wearing stainless steel rings, goodlampshade, and stainless steel necklaces.”