Cash-strapped council to dim street lights to cut costs despite warnings over women’s safety
A London council has announced it will be dimming street lights despite warnings from women’s safety charities.
The London Borough of Havering Havering says it will lower the brightness of 4,000 lights on its main roads between midnight and 5am.
It comes as the East London council made the announcement in a bid to cut costs that could force it into bankruptcy.
The council, which is led by a Havering Residents Association and Labour coalition, said last week it had passed its “toughest budget ever” with huge cuts amid a £32.5million deficit which is projected to rise to £81.9million over the next four years.
However, the move has been criticised by women’s charities, who said that it poses a risk to safety at night.
A spokesperson from Our Streets Now told The Daily Telegraph: “It’s disappointing, but unsurprising, to hear that women’s safety has been an afterthought in plans to cut costs. We know from research, from our members, and from the experiences of women and girls up and down the country that low and no street lighting poses a risk to their safety.”
Meanwhile, The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which supports victims of stalking, told Daily Mail: “What we would want to know is to what extent has the council consulted with local people about the proposed changes and how will they monitor the impact of the changes on people’s feelings of, and actual, safety?
“In addition, we would emphasise that street lighting in any case is not the answer to tackling crime including violence against women and girls and we would urge the council to publish their wider plans to tackle this.”
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Leader of Havering Council Ray Morgon said: “We fully recognise the worries around safety and this is why, in our budget savings, we are only proposing plans to dim the street lights on our main roads between 12am and 5am. Street lighting on residential roads would remain on full power and brightness. This has been consulted on as part of the budget consultation where nearly 4,000 people responded.
“With regards to the question around dimming lights, the majority of respondents to that question felt the street lighting proposals would have little or no impact on either them personally (59 per cent) or the community (42 per cent).
“Indeed some respondents felt the proposals would have a positive impact on themselves (24 per cent) and on the community (29 per cent) than a negative impact.
“There has some concern expressed during consultation that this may lead to an increase in some crime but Officers who have been involved in similar schemes in other boroughs found no evidence of this. We will of course consult with the police and relevant partners to ensure lighting that supports CCTV provision is not compromised.”
Speaking after the council passed its budget last week, Cllr Morgan said the local authority was ‘effectively bankrupt’ and would have to issue a section 114 notice unless the Government approved a £54million loan.
It added that it plans to raise council tax by 4.99 per cent but this would not be enough due to a surge in demand for adult and children’s social care.
It said this, coupled with cost of living increases, a reduction in housing that has led to a rise in homelessness and temporary accommodation costs and “systemic underfunding from government” has left it on the brink.