Minutes

I have received several complaints from residents of the Lliswerry ward with regards to switching the streetlights off between Midnight and 6:00 am. All these complaints have been passed on via our members service email address. 

Could I possibly make the following suggestion, that may ease our residents’ concerns? 

Instead of switching ALL the streetlights off from Midnight to 6:00am, could we trial switching the 1st lamp off a 10:00 pm, the 2nd one off at 11:00 pm and the 3rd off at Midnight. Then switch on the first streetlight back on at 4:00 am, the 2nd at 5:00 am and the 3rd at 6:00 am. 

This way at least one in 3 lamppost lights would be on in our streets, that would give residents better visibility and security. Rather than ALL the streetlamps being off together. They would all be off for the same duration, and this should not cost any extra, just on at different times of the evening and early hours. 

I am deeply concerned that we have a lot of vulnerable female residents who are now leaving their houses at 5:00 or even 4:00 am in the dark, to get to their place of work by 6:00 am. 

It appears from our government policies we are trying to encourage residents to use alternative types of travel, like the buses, trains or cycle but we are not considering their safety travelling to and from their homes using these alternative types of travel. 

The street lighting part night scheme was considered as part of the Council’s budget setting process for the financial year 23/24 and was consulted on through a range of stakeholder groups and formats. The part night scheme allows for the highway to be in lighting when it is most used, between the hours of 6am and 12 midnight, with lighting only being off when the use is lower. Some areas of the network will also remain in lighting for highway safety reasons.

The scheme as implemented will achieve a reduction in energy consumption and an associated reduction in carbon emissions.

The proposal has been implemented as agreed and in order to amend to operate in the manner suggested, all photocells would need to be changed to accommodate different timings. It is also the case that different lighting units being on or off at different times would result in confusion.