Plan to turn off most street lights paused
As part of the scheme, most lights in Burford and wider Oxfordshire would be turned off overnight
- Published
A council has postponed a decision on whether to turn most of Oxfordshire's street lights off overnight so it can hear more views.
Oxfordshire County Council operates about 60,000 lights but outlined plans that would only have seen them turned on between dusk and 23:00 and dawn and 06:30.
It said the scheme was “primarily intended and focussed on reducing artificial night-time light” and a framework for it was due to be signed off on Thursday.
About 2,000 people signed petitions raising safety concerns this week.
The county council’s deputy leader Pete Sudbury said terms of the new approach would no longer be decided on Thursday after he conceded reporting of it “set a lot of hares running”.
Susan Brown, Oxford City Council's leader, said she thought the proposal was "shocking".
Another city councillor, Mary Clarkson, said she was preparing "for walking around Oxford soon by coming down a black staircase in sunglasses”.
The county council said a decision being deferred would mean more consultation could be carried out with the public and the police.
Under terms set out earlier, lights that illuminate alleyways and paths away from roads, subways and where they are used to show road furniture like speed bumps would be kept on.
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Dr Sudbury said "a technical document, which was meant to be a framework on which to base next stages" was due to be agreed.
"Unfortunately, it was quite understandably seen as a plan for immediate implementation. As a result, it set a lot of hares running, and I apologise for any upset caused," he added.
“I'm grateful to all the people who have written to me and would urge them to speak at the meeting tomorrow because this is a real opportunity to influence how this goes forward.”
Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber said last week that he worried about the plan.
On Wednesday he said a petition he set up to oppose it had been signed 1,000 times.
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- Published11 November
