Street lights to be turned off

Street lights in villages around Wolverhampton will be switched off overnight as part of cost-cutting and energy-saving measures.

Lights will be converted to automatically turn off at midnight before coming back on again at 5am.

The towns and villages to be plunged into darkness include Albrighton, Alveley, Bridgnorth, Broseley, Claverley, Cosford, Highley, Morville, Shifnal, and Quatford.

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It is part of wider plans which will see 12,500 of the 18,900 lights maintained by Shropshire Council will be converted to 'part-night' lighting, once the latest scheme has been finished.

Parts of north and south-west of Shropshire, as well as Shrewsbury, have already been converted as part of the project, which started in April 2012.

Work is due to start in late September and will take two months to complete.

Councillor Claire Wild, Shropshire's cabinet member for highways, said: "This has been a long-running programme and we are now into the final stages of converting 70 per cent of our street lights to part-night lighting.

"A huge amount of work took place before work started two years ago to ensure that the areas included in the programme were suitable.

"A partnership group, made up of council officers and the police, regularly monitor crime levels to see if there is any evidence that safety is being affected by street lights being off at night.

"On the whole, reaction from the public has been positive because they can appreciate that in most cases it's simply a waste of energy to have street lights on all through the night.

"A lot of people have also appreciated the reduction in light pollution too, which makes it much easier to view the night sky."

The council said it takes 7.7 million kilowatt-hours of power, and 3,490 tonnes of carbon, to run its 18,900 street lights, illuminated signs and traffic signals every year - the equivalent of powering 2,600 homes.

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It added converting 12,500 of lights to part-night lighting would reduce energy use by 20 per cent, saving of 1.56 million kilowatt-hours of power and almost 812 tonnes of carbon.

The plans were approved by Shropshire Council's Cabinet back in September 2011, following detailed discussion between Shropshire Council, police, and town councils and parish councils.

Posters will be placed on street lights affected.