The impact of Britain’s budget-cutting begs the question ‘will there be light at the end of the tunnel?’ Not if you live under some local authorities it seems. For some budget-conscious councils looking at initiatives to save money and energy, switching street lights off has become a favourable option.

Kirklees Council, covering parts of the Spen Valley, took the decision at its recent Cabinet meeting to switch off 2,000 street lights for part of the night.

The council manages a network of more than 51,000 street lights, consuming 19.5 million KW hours of electricity at a current cost of £1.8m per year. By 2015 energy prices are predicted to rise to about £2.9m per year.

In light of this, the council has decided to switch off 2,000 street lights for part of the night. The lights would remain in use until around midnight and during darker mornings from approximately 5am, when activity in the streets is greater.

Energy-efficient technology costing £60,000 would have to be installed, but the Council estimates the move will save £19,000 per year.

Public consultation is currently underway on the proposals and, pending the results, a trial scheme is expected to go ahead.

Consultation results will also be used to decide suitable areas for the scheme where the partial switch-off will have the least impact on vulnerable members of the community.

The Cabinet also approved £455,000 to fund energy-efficient technology for the scheme. One of the measures is to replace the current control gear in 5,000 street lights which still use low-pressure sodium (orange light) with more energy-efficient controls at a cost of £395,000.

The street lighting network emits 11,840 tonnes of CO2, which costs the council 140,000 in Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) tax. This is due to increase to £30 per tonne by 2020 and will then cost around £350,000 if the street lighting system remains unchanged.

Viv Laycock, president of Spen Chamber of Trade and Commerce, welcomes the move. “We are all encouraged to cut down on waste and excess energy. Small side streets where people are walking about may be a little bit different, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all,” she said. I’m all for saving energy and saving money.”

North Yorkshire Council, covering areas including Skipton, is also introducing a system allowing street lights to be turned off during part of the night. It’s part of a £400,000 plan to save energy and cut almost 2,000 tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere and follows last year’s budget consultations and public concerns.

County councillor Gareth Dadd, executive member for Highways and Planning Services, says. “When we had the budget consultations last year, it was suggested on numerous occasions that we look at reducing unnecessary street lighting. We set up a working group to look at it and the objective is to save money over time – it’s about not spending money or producing carbon that we don’t need to.”

Coun Dadd says public consultations will take place over the four-year programme, expected to be phased in from April.

A full review of the County Council’s 48,000 street lights will be undertaken. Lights no longer required will be removed and the rest will be assessed to determine whether it is appropriate to switch them off for part of the night.

No lights will be affected in areas where road safety, crime or anti-social behaviour is an issue.

Bradford Council has opted to install a new kind of street lighting which can be dimmed to save costs and energy. By the end of this financial year, the Council will have rolled out 850 of the dimming devices on all new street light columns across the district.

Allun Preece, the Council's principal engineer, says there are no plans to switch lights off.

“We are always looking at further ways to save money on street lighting, but do not intend to switch lights off,” he says.

“We have been dimming street lights between 11pm and 5am where possible for the last three years, both to save money and be energy-efficient.

“We have about 1,200 street lights fitted with the facility to dim and when we need to replace old lighting columns, we replace them with this technology.”