Published: Thursday, 27th November, 2008 11:10
Councillors agree to switch off street lights to cut costs and carbon emissions
By Ally McRoberts
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SWITCHING off street lights in West Fife would be “crazy” and lead to a surge in night-time crime, according to a Dunfermline councillor.
Labour councillor Mike Rumney hit out after trials to dim bulbs and turn the lights off in four Fife areas were approved on Thursday – although Fife Council didn’t seem so sure.
Despite a heated debate and a vote on the matter, a council press release made no mention at all of switching lights out and talked only of tests involving dimming the bulbs.
The idea behind the trials is to cut costs and carbon emissions but Fife police and at least one community council have expressed concerns about the impact on crime and safety.
And Councillor Rumney said, “In some of our communities the locals would have a field day if we turned the street lights off.”
He added, “We’ve spent thousands and thousands of pounds on CCTV and community wardens and I think Fife Council should get its own act together first.
“Some of these council buildings are lit up like Blackpool illuminations at night and they’re empty apart from the cleaning staff.
“They should do more to sort their own buildings out before coming up with crazy ideas like switching off street lights.”
Councillors had faced three options: remote monitoring and dimming; turning the lights off between midnight and 5am and a complete switch off.
The four test areas are in Glenrothes, Lumphinnans/Lochgelly, Kirkcaldy and St Andrews.
A Labour amendment which accepted tests on dimming the bulbs but not switching them off was defeated, meaning that the lights will go off in the trial areas.
Councillor Tony Martin, the chairman of the environment, enterprise and transportation committee, said, “A lot of people are very concerned but we had to keep pushing to say we’re going to consult with community councils, councillors, police and area committees before we bring back a report on this.
“The message is we’re not turning them off where people live and where they need them.
“We can turn the power down so they’re not as bright and it may be we could turn off every other one so you still have some light but you save 50 per cent.
“There will be places where we need them, or even areas where we need to improve the lighting, but I’m sure there are some places where we’re just lighting roads for cars.
“If you look at Castlandhill in Rosyth, the stretch from the turn-off to Inverkeithing all the way until the houses start, that’s lit and I doubt anyone would walk there at night.”
Fife has 58,000 street lights and the cost of £1.8 million is expected to climb by 50 per cent next year.
The council must also make an 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050 while it has its own target of a three per cent cut per year.
Mr Martin said, “We need to do something with street lights if we’re going to reduce our carbon footprint as it doesn’t look like we’re going to hit our target this year.”
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