Lights out for street lamps across Hampshire - in move which could save £230,000

The proposals, to be rubber-stamped by Hampshire County Council next week, will see no lighting between the hours of 1am and 4am every night.

However, it adds that street lighting in certain “high crime” areas will either not be turned off at all, or the timings varied. It will be judged on a case-by-case basis, the council says.

Street lights on roads with vertical traffic calming, or in the vicinity of light-controlled crossings will also not be switched off.

Illuminated road signs and bollards are not unaffected by the proposal.

Over the past few years, the authority has gradually reduced its street light usage.

Currently it dims lights on residential roads by 45 per cent from “switch-on” until 11.30pm, and 65 per cent from then until 5.30am.

It’s then raised back to 45 per cent until “switch-off”. On major roads this dimming is lessened to a maximum of 50 per cent during the early hours.

By the end of 2018, the council says its energy consumption will be less than half of what it was in 2010, with savings of around £2 million a year.

But this new proposal will allow even more cash to be saved.

If pushed through, a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) output by 720 tonnes per year will save a further £12,960 in avoided carbon tax.

This will also contribute to the council’s objective to reduce its CO2 impact, it says.

This comes after 5,444 people took part in a public consultation into the plans, as well as 141 organisations, businesses, and groups.

From the report it was found that more than two thirds of respondents supported the county council’s proposal to turn street lights off, and a “dark period” of between three and four hours, starting between midnight and 1am, was “widely supported”.

The council noted that almost half of the respondents said that they would prefer lights to stay on at night in town and city centres, but were “most supportive” of lighting being turned off in residential areas.