Last city wards to have street lights off at night

Street lights are to be turned off overnight in remaining wards in Coventry, as part of council plans to save £700,000 a year in energy costs.

Sixteen wards in the city have already had their lights switched off after midnight in a move to reduce spending and cut carbon emissions by about a fifth.

The local authority said the policy, which will see about 70% of the city's lights turned off during the early hours, had gone well so far.

But some residents disagree. "It's now completely black at night," said Colin Millard, who lives on Radford Road.

Mr Millard said if was not for the light from a nearby barbers shop, it would not possible to see anything on his road, which he described as dangerous.

"You could trip over, it's so dark... how people avoid having accidents, I don't know," he said.

Other people said they had been unaware of the council's "part-night" lighting plan, which sees street lights turned off between midnight and 05:30 Sunday to Thursday and from 01:00 until 05:30 Friday and Saturday.

"It would make me feel a bit conscious about stepping out in those hours," said one woman.

John Seddon from Coventry City Council said it was too early to review the policy

John Seddon, the council's strategic lead for policy and innovation, said the switch-off had "gone well so far" and had been focused on areas and times where there was the least activity.

"We haven't had any adverse feedback in terms of anti-social behaviour, or issues over crime," said Mr Seddon, who said the council was also monitoring the impact on traffic, but there were "no particular issues".

He said the proposal had been well publicised and subject to consultation before it began in May, and "something had to be done" as part of changes to the council's budget.

The policy was likely to be reviewed about a year after it was introduced to see if any changes needed to be made, he said.