Shropshire streetlights face being turned off in early hours

The controversial switching off of thousands of streetlights across Shropshire between midnight and dawn could be completed sooner than planned, it was revealed today.

Shropshire Council has set out plans to switch off 70 per cent of its 18,500 street lights over the next four years in order to save £115,000 per year in operating costs.

The process will begin in April and, if it proves a success after 12 months, it could be accelerated and rolled out across Shropshire within two years, the council has said.

Councillor Simon Jones, whose cabinet responsibilities includes street lighting, said it had yet to be decided which lights would be switched off first.

It will cost £254,000, to fit the lights with equipment to make them go off at midnight and come back on again at about 5.30am.

Town and parish councils with responsibility for street lighting are being encouraged to join in, with Shropshire Council offering to carry out risk assessments.

In October a trial scheme began in Church Stretton. Town council-owned lights on the Battlefield estate have been switched off, as have those controlled by Shropshire Council on roads approaching the town from the north, south and east.

Town mayor Bob Welch said there had been a drop in crime.

Bishop's Castle could join the project after the town council asked Shropshire officers to give them more details.