Opposition councillors call on council to review street lights turn-off

Opposition parties are calling on Caerphilly County Borough Council to review the decision to switch off thousands of street lights.

The council has already switched of 14,200 lights between midnight and 5.30am, with a further 8,495 set to follow by the end of the year.

More than 200 complaints have been made about the switch-off.

However, Independent councillor Kevin Etheridge has put forward a motion, signed by Independent and Plaid Cymru councillors, calling on the Labour-led council to review this decision.

No Labour member has signed the motion, which will be considered by the council’s environment and sustainability scrutiny committee.

Cllr Etheridge says he hopes a public consultation can be held on this matter.

He said: “I have requested that council considers a review into the decision to switch off street lights following the representations we have received from our residents.

“I am sure my council colleagues will agree a review is necessary and support the public ”

Cllr Etheridge claims that the decision to switch off the street lights has been “based on historic consultation that is therefore likely to be currently unrepresentative of communities across the county”.

Cllr Colin Mann, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, said: “Plaid Cymru welcomes the Independent group’s support on an issue we have long championed.

“We have been speaking out about the folly of turning off street lights in residential areas for more than a year and will continue to do so.

“Labour has chosen to ignore petitions we started against the great switch-off signed by thousands of residents and almost 200 individual complaints. But we hope they can now accept that it is a flawed policy.”

Cllr Mann added: “We don’t believe those who live alone and older people should feel insecure and vulnerable in their own homes. This blackout also impacts negatively on those forced to walk to work for early morning shifts in complete darkness.”

However, the Plaid group have been branded “completely hypocritical” in backing the motion – the party supported turning street lights off overnight when they led the council in 2010.

However, in a letter written by Cllr Mann earlier this year, he said there was a difference between switching off lights in between communities and within “the heart of communities”.

In 2010, the Plaid group made the decision to turn off street lighting on out-of-town roads and bypasses and on industrial estates.

The letter said Labour’s decision had caused “anxiety” for residents.

It said: “While we do support efforts to tackle the climate emergency, Plaid Cymru cannot support action which makes people feel more vulnerable in their own homes.”

A Labour group spokesman said: “It’s completely hypocritical to switch street lights off in power and oppose them being switched off when in opposition.”

Labour councillor Jamie Pritchard said: “It would be wrong to ignore the the environmental factors behind the current street lighting policy.

“I challenged the opposition to come forward with their alternative street lighting proposal at the council’s budget meeting earlier this year, but both Plaid Cymru and the Independents had nothing to offer.”

A motion to review this decision will be considered by a scrutiny committee on October 1.