City street lights to be switched back on at night

Lights on thousands of streets in the city were switched off during select hours

Street lights in Coventry will be switched back on overnight following more than £700,000 of energy savings and a switch to LED lights.

Lamps on more than 2,500 streets were turned off between midnight and 05:30 from July 2024, under cost-saving measures from the local authority. The move prompted safety complaints from residents.

In a statement on Tuesday, Coventry City Council leader George Duggins confirmed the lights would go back on from 9 September.

He said the decision was taken after the authority was able to "make energy savings beyond the £700,000 savings projected" by turning off the street lights.

Hundreds of residents raised safety concerns and signed a petition after the lights went off more than a year ago.

Councillors had agreed to the cost-saving move months before, but the online petition expressed concerns for vulnerable residents and called for the authority to reconsider.

Duggins said the authority had a "very challenging" budget for the financial year 2024-25 and switching the lights off had been one of the "least palatable options".

He said there were constituents who had felt "uneasy" about the move and who had made him aware of concerns over their safety.

Duggins said the council had identified cost savings from switching off street lights and the authority was now in a position where those savings could be maintained, and not compromised.

He told BBC CWR the lights would now stay on due to the move towards LED lighting.

"We are moving towards the LED programme which will start this November and will finish in August of 2027," he explained.

"LED lighting always meant that we could switch the lights back on."

Duggins added the switch-off during select hours "wasn't fair" and the authority "needed to ensure that when the lights went on for one, they went on for all".

"I don't see us needing to reverse our decision," he added.