Women's safety: Powys street lights could be turned off to save funds

Some local authorities see a reduction in street lighting as a way to save money

Questions have been raised about whether savings on street lighting should be scaled back following concerns about women's safety at night.

Powys council switched off some lighting more than a decade ago as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

About £14,000 has been saved from a 2019/2020 review into street lighting.

But a report said the council wanted town and community councils to pay for additional streetlights.

It follows recent events, highlighted by the murder of Sarah Everard by a Met Police officer in London earlier this year.

Councillor David Thomas said he was "surprised to see a reduction in street lighting" considering the emphasis on violence against women, adding there could be a "backlash" if proposals go ahead.

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At a finance meeting on Friday, he asked if council heads of service considered "public opinion" before going ahead with savings, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Thomas had noted that a "cost reduction" of £13,820, made from a review into street lighting from the 2019/20 budget, had been rolled forward to this year.

According to the report, the council would look to fund lighting in "conflict areas only".

Mr Thomas said he understood that to mean hospitals, fire stations and older people's accommodation.

But he said savings of £13,280 to those facilities seemed "very limited".

Council savings

Powys's head of finance Jane Thomas said: "They were all approved by the council for delivery as part of the budget setting process, the impact assessments would consider that.

"If things have changed, services would need to factor that in as they further consider delivery of these, my understanding is that will have been done.

"I understand there were savings in previous years, and this was the tail end of it."

When the 2020/21 budget was set in March 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the council had expected to make "cost reductions" of £12.394m.

The report shows that 76% of this was achieved, but £2.941m was not.

Of this sum, £1.744m was passed forward to be achieved in 2021/22.

Originally for 2019/20, a review into street lighting with a hope that town and community councils could pay for local lighting needs, saving £150,000, was reduced to £75,000.

This was because it was feared that darker streets would help criminals but earlier this year, councillors Joy Jones and Les Skilton started a campaign to switch lights back on.