Street light control may be handed over to council

Parish councils are being asked if they want to hand over control of street lights to Westmorland and Furness Council

Parish councils will be allowed to hand over control of street lighting to a local authority if they choose.

Westmorland and Furness councillors agreed last week to accept proposals to bring the area's lights under the control of a central council-run unit.

The plans include the authority potentially taking control of about 790 lighting units run by parish and town councils - with more than 19,000 street lights across the region.

Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Thornton said the move would "bring an end to the inefficiency of street-lighting management".

Thornton said it would allow the council to move into "a new world of low-energy lighting which is carefully targeted to avoid light pollution".

"By digitally controlling our street lights, we can produce the light we want, when we want it, to reduce consumption and ensure we are getting the most of every pound that we spend," he said.

The local authority said the maintenance of lights would also be improved because having one central contol would allow automatic alerts to be set up to notify engineers when there is a problem.

Liberal Democrat councillor Janet Battye said parish councils would not be forced to "hand anything over or do anything".

"This proposal is a result of listening to them, working with them and responding to what they have been telling us they want," she said.

'Dark holes in village'

The council had previously sought the views of smaller authorities about the proposed move.

Great Strickland Parish Council said many of its lights were attached to telegraph poles, and the current policy seemed to be "to remove rather than repair" lights when there was a problem.

"Our lighting stock is dwindling rapidly," said clerk Ruth Tupling, at the time of the consultation.

"This has resulted in 'dark holes' throughout the village, and meant that some of the older residents no longer feel able to go out in the dark."