Safety fears prompt streetlight dimming review

Councillor Pamela Burns said people felt unsafe because of the low lighting

The dimming of streetlights overnight is to be reviewed by a council after it received "legitimate concerns over safety" from residents.

Gateshead Council dims its streetlights by 75% between midnight and 05:30 and turns off some lighting on main routes.

It does so to reduce carbon emissions and save money.

But the authority said it was now reviewing the policy and looking at options to reach the best compromise between cost and lighting effectiveness.

Other councils also dim their lights at night but often to a lesser extent.

Newcastle City Council reduces some of its streetlights by 25% overnight, while Cumberland Council makes its lights 50% less bright but over a longer period - from 21:00 to 06:00.

Gateshead's streetlights are dimmed by 75% overnight

Pamela Burns, a Labour councillor representing Winlaton and High Spen, said Gateshead's rules were "not adequate enough".

"Women and anybody vulnerable start to feel unsafe," she said.

"It’s not just perception of the light, it’s also a fear of it being too dark and they don’t really want to go outside."

Police said the level of street lighting had a minimal impact on crime and local authorities argued that dimming street lights helped reduce their carbon footprint.

Colin Swinney, service director for highways and waste at Gateshead Council, said: "If we were to increase power to all of our street lighting to a maximum of 100%, this would add approximately £1m extra in energy bills and an extra 190 tonnes of carbon burnt – which goes against our climate change target.

"We will continue to review our approach to this matter, looking at options to reach the best possible compromise between cost and lighting effectiveness."