Warwick district first to go dark as lights go out
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PLANS to plunge the streets of Warwickshire into darkness at night have been approved - and the first lights to go out will be in Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth and surrounding villages.
Warwickshire County Council’s Conservative-led cabinet has approved a scheme to switch 80 per cent of Warwickshire’s street lights to ‘part-night lighting’ from December 1, where they will be turned off between midnight and 5.30am.
The plan will be rolled out across the county, beginning with Warwick district in just over a month’s time.
Officials argue the move will save the council £500,000 a year and significantly reduce its carbon footprint. But members of the council’s committee delegated to scrutinising community issues say the timing is bad.
Chairman of this committee, Cllr John Whitehouse (Lib Dem, Kenilworth Abbey), said he and fellow Liberal Democrat councillors wanted to delay the programme until the first week of January.
He said: “The timing of the switch-off is really bad and could set the whole scheme back.
“The cabinet seemed to ignore the fact that there could be adverse publicity surrounding this. Why do it during the Christmas and new year period - the one time you can guarantee that there will be people out on the streets at night?”
Areas that will not be affected include roundabouts, traffic signal-controlled junctions, and close to care homes, sheltered accommodation, accident and emergency departments, taxi ranks and on public footpaths away from roads.
Officials say the county’s street lighting team will continually review data after the switch-off has begun.
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Weather for Leamington
Saturday 25 May 2013
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