Women's safety campaigner welcomes light switch-on

Karen Whybro said turning street lights off pushed crime to other areas

A women's safety campaigner has welcomed a council decision to turn street lights back on all night throughout the borough.

On Monday, Basildon Council began reprogramming the lights that were previously switched off between 01:00 and 05:00.

A survey of 235 women, commissioned by the local authority, found 88% of them felt unsafe in the town after dark.

Campaigner Karen Whybro, from Chelmsford, said she was consulted by the council prior to the decision.

"Usually, local authorities will use a piece of research that suggests if you turned lights off, there aren't any increases in violence," she said.

"The reason there are fewer attacks, or there aren't as many, is because there are not people on the streets.

"So actually all you're doing is pushing people back into their homes; you're not actually reducing or preventing any crimes.

"It just means that they're not happening in that place at that time."

Students at a beauty academy in Wickford said brighter streets made them feel safer

Essex County Council, which is responsible for local roads, first switched off street lights in 2014 in an effort to save money.

Basildon Council turned them back on in 2019 for a four-year period - but that ended in 2023.

In June, the authority pledged £480,000 to flick the lights on again for a further four years.

Lucy Porter said she was assaulted in Wickford earlier this year.

Mylee, a beauty academy student in Wickford, said it was a decision that made her feel safer.

"When you get older, you start going to parties and they end at late times," she said.

"So you need to be able to see who's picking you up, where you are and who's down the road."

Her friend Chloe added: "I do worry who's behind me, who's to the side of me, who's in front of me and what could happen.

"With the street lights being back on, it provides that sense of security."

Their colleague, Lucy Porter, said she was assaulted in Wickford in public during the day at the beginning of the year.

"My sister walks that same route at night, and just having those street lights makes me feel so much more relieved for her," she explained.

"I haven't really been able to go out for walks at all since [the assault], but I'm hoping as I process it and get along with it, I will be going out more."

Jessica Power said people felt more emboldened to commit crimes in the dark

Basildon Council said it expected all of the town's lights to be operational throughout the night by the end of the week.

A spokesperson said it would monitor any changes in crime data.

Labour councillor Jessica Power, who is the council's cabinet member for regeneration, said: "There has been a lot of crime, especially in the estates across the borough; so a lot more car theft, a lot more robberies and break-ins, and obviously we are unable to identify and see what's going on due to street lights being off.

"Under the cover of darkness, people feel a lot more emboldened to go out and commit these crimes."

An Essex police fire and crime commissioner report in 2017 concluded there was no evidence linking the policy and a rise in crime.

There were 18,113 crimes reported in Basildon in the 12 months to July 2024, which dropped by 8.8% to 16,514 offences recorded in the year to July 2025.

However, reports of sexual offences increased by 27% over the same period; from 512, up to 650.