Street lights go out on Church Stretton estate as part of trial
Street lights in an area of Church Stretton will be switched off from tonight as part of a trial by Shropshire Council and Church Stretton Town Council.
The lights will be turned off between midnight and 5.30am on Battlefield Estate and its four approach roads.
The plan is to gradually roll out the scheme to the rest of the Shropshire over the next four years, starting from April 2012.
Under the plans street lights will be turned off in certain areas, with those considered high crime risk locations remaining lit, such as most urban areas.
Shropshire Council, say their electricity bill would be cut by over £160,000 a year if some street lights are switched off.
Across the Shropshire Council area it takes 8.7 million kilowatt-hours of power and 4,750 tonnes of carbon to run 18,500 street lights, illuminated signs and traffic signals every year, which is the same amount of power used by 2,600 homes in a typical year.
Some areas of the country including Telford & Wrekin already switch streetlights off in the early hours of the morning.
Converting the lights to part-night lighting, which is the technical term for the ability to switch themselves off for a period of the night, will cost about £100,000 a year over the next four years. The £162,000 annual saving will be year-on-year, and is likely to increase in the future as energy prices rise.
Ellesmere Town Council recently objected to a pilot of the scheme over concerns about crime and safety.
