The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Pinchbeck is the only village in Lincolnshire to request a reversal of some of its street lights being switched off overnight.
Pinchbeck Parish Council’s request for four lights to be kept on all night will go ahead “as part of routine maintenance in the financial year 2020/21”.
Lincolnshire County Council’s Part Night Street Lighting Scrutiny Review recommended councils be allowed to pay for street lights to be upgraded to LED “and reinstated to full night operation”.
The decision for the upgrade, which will cost £150 per light, came when a resident of Grove Close attended a parish council meeting and complained the street was dark, a parish council spokesman said, adding there had been no incidents of crime on that road but it is mostly elderly people who live there.
The spokesman explained four lights need to be upgraded “as they are all on the same circuit”.
They said the council is “at the mercy of LCC” as to when the work will be carried out, as it opted for the cheaper option for the work to take place during maintenance, rather than pay £300 per light for immediate upgrade.
A statement from LCC said converting lights to LEDs and switching off street lights between midnight and dawn “has reduced carbon emissions by 6,200 metric tonnes a year and is saving £2.5m in annual electricity costs”.
“The latest figures, revealed by LCC, show that the council expects to spend £1.95m to light the streets this year.
“Under previous arrangements, this would have cost local taxpayers £4.45m at today’s prices.”
Coun Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: “This is a significant saving – above what we had initially estimated – and it allows us to invest more in the council’s other priorities, including looking after older people and fixing even more potholes.”
The perception of reduced safety has been an argument against the scheme but Coun David said there has been no impact: “There’s no evidence that the change to part night lighting affected the crime rate in Lincolnshire, but we can now see that it has had a marked effect on cutting the impact on the environment.
“For those communities that still wanted the lights on all night, we put in the mechanism for local councils to request that. However, with just one parish council requesting four street lights to be left on, it’s clear that residents aren’t particularly concerned about the impact of part night lighting.”
