Street lights across Surrey to stay on an hour longer

Surrey County Council said the street lights would be left on for an hour longer, until 01:00 GMT

Street lights in Surrey are to be turned back on for an extra hour overnight just a year after the council decided to switch them off.

Since December, more than 30,000 lights have been switched off for five hours each night to help fund multi-million pound budget savings.

Surrey County Council said they would now be left on for an hour longer, until 01:00 GMT, beginning on Thursday.

It said the decision was taken after listening to residents' concerns.

The cabinet member for highways, Colin Kemp, said lights would be left on longer in residential areas across every borough and district in Surrey.

"We're able to do this because the savings from turning off the lights in the early hours of the morning are likely to be higher than anticipated, and we have decided to reinvest this back into our communities," he said.

He said "looking ahead" the council was considering using LED lights because "the savings they offer could outweigh the cost of installing them".