South Norfolk Council has decided to devolve responsibility of street lighting and hand it down to parish, town and community councils. Here in Spooner Row, Suton and Wattlefield we are a Community Council.
Prior to formation of our Community Council our Council Tax Bills contained an entry for “Special Expenses” to cover street lights. For the new Community Council this special expense was removed and this deduction was reflected in bills for 2019/20.
We have three street lights in our community and they are all in Spooner Row - Station Road (outside Cantley Villas), Station Road (by the pole mounted transformers down from the Station) and Queen’s Street (outside Derwent).
Street lights cost money to maintain and repair. We know that two lights passed a SNDC safety audit but one on Station Road did not. Our street lights are also old style “sodium’s” and not energy efficient LEDs which means higher electricity bills in the future.
To assist the Community Council in reaching a decision, the question to residents is...
Do you wish to retain street lights in our community and if so, for Council to consider reintroduction of a “Special Expenses” entry to next year’s Council Tax Bill?
When replying please let us know who and where you are. This will assist us greatly in assessing your feedback and we want to hear from all three parts of our community. Please do not post anonymously. Please reply by 26th November 2019.
They are a waste of time and money and should be removed. Even in Wymondham if the resident wants lights they have to pay for it themselves as have several properties here in the village, which come on automatically if there is movement outside .
I think the street lights provide pedestrian safety at night and help reduce crime such as theft and burglary. Changing them to the efficient LEDs would save money. there are only three of them. I think they should stay.
The three lights are not useless at all and should be maintained. We have lorries constantly travelling through the village and pedestrians walking in the road. There are also plans for more housing development. We should be getting more street lighting not less. If it's because of a green agenda, the three existing one's need to be replaced with LED one's (I'm sure grants are available).
The light unit in Queen Street has fairly recently been replaced and, unless I'm mistaken, is now an LED unit. Its light is much brighter than before and now white rather than lurid orange.
In principal we don't particularly like the light(s) in the village and would be tempted to say "get rid", however, with the increasing number of security concerns (and not everyone has PIR security lights) as well as the number of older (single and widowed) residents in the street there are sound grounds for the light to remain.
The street light by Cantley Villas is a LED light. As someone who walks to support our local watering hole I definitely do not want to lose the lights. We dodge brambles now in the dark because the hedges are not maintained adjacent to the footpaths.
Below are two reports which might prove helpful and possibly confusing. Please read the full report if you wish as these are the conclusions The conclusion I have reached that street lights help prevent crime this is not proven. As regard safety that is another matter as I too have experienced brambles in my face on a dark night from unmaintained hedges, but is providing lights the answer to this ?
Key to all of this is the COST. LED's and advanced timer clocks that switch lights off in the small hours saves power and the view is that for high density urban areas they are beneficial but that has not stopped a gradual reduction in their provision most notably on road junctions and major highways and their continuing absence in rural ones. This certainly true in Wymondham. One suspects the real reason for removal is cost. Dog urine has reduced the lifetime of lamps and replacing them is not cheap and neither is upgrading them.
This is a surprisingly complex area and in this second post I have attempted to give the report based conclusions, rather than the view I have given above which I accept is personal.
THE INFLUENCE OF STREET LIGHTING ON CRIME AND FEAR OF CRIME 1991
The team from the University of Southampton who carried out this research concluded that, as deployed on a broad scale, better street lighting has had little or no effect on crime. In their words, “the dominant overall conclusion ... was of no significant change” On the other hand, they did find that the improved street lighting was warmly welcomed by the public, and that it provided a measure of reassurance to some people - particularly women – who were fearful in their use of public space.
Evidence regarding the impact of the street lighting on crime and anti-social behaviour
A paper on the proposed introduction of Partial night time lighting in Cambridge CC
Version 2.0 August 2015
• The best conclusion that can be drawn from the research literature is that the general benefit of street lighting in reducing crime is unproven but in very specific circumstances, where there is an existing crime hot-spot and current lighting is poor then improvements may prove beneficial.
• There is a strong association in minds of the public between the presence of lighting and a feeling of safety. However, recent survey evidence suggests that despite this the introduction of part-night lighting won’t change actual behaviour as other factors such as an area’s reputation, personal feelings of vulnerability and time-specific circumstances (such as pub closing times) have a stronger influence
My view on the first report is that if street lighting provides a measure of reassurance to some people - particularly women then that is a good enough reason to keep the three street lights in Spooner Row.
I for one prefer to see the night sky and not street lights in a rural village such as ours. When friends stay with us they will often comment that this village is great for looking at the stars. Clearly we do not suffer the same level of light pollution that they do.
If we are to retain street lights then I would suggest only retaining that on Station Road by the tree trunk and this in the the main thoroughfare through the village. This section of road is also where people using the Church on a Tuesday night park. As a side issue could we please ask those visiting the Church on a Tuesday not to park on Chapel Road as they are creating a hazard. I have noted that one or two of these drivers are also pulling onto the path. I cannot see a reason for the light on Queen Street remaining as this road does even have a path and the footfall of an evening appears almost nil. As for upper Station Road, the light pollution caused by the bright light on the side of the School is sufficient to light this section of the village without need of a further street light. I note the comment from Councillor Lemon wanting the keep the street light to help him get back and forth to the pub but could I make a suggestion that would save us all money on the precept - buy a torch.
I would not want the street lights to disappear in Spooner Row, in particular, the light in Queens Street. Indeed, it would be a retrograde step to remove them.
I am in favour of removing the lights, purely from the perspective of preserving the view of the night sky and the rural nature of the village. In fact walking at night without lights allows your eyes to adjust to the ambient light levels from the moon and stars and therefore see more. When I walk our dog at night I only turn our torch on to signal our presence to vehicles when walking on the road.
I also appreciate the safety concerns from a pedestrian versus traffic perspective, however the current location of the lights does not really increase safety at any natural crossing points on our roads or lighting up junctions.
I did like the suggestion though that Martyn buys himself a torch.
I believe the street light near the junction of School Lane/Station Road/The Ridings does increase safety. It outlines pedestrians walking along School Lane where there is no path. Sometimes it's not always possible to hold a torch. I am also against light pollution but can still enjoy the night sky here in Spooner Row where street lights have very little impact on that enjoyment. I would be in favour of keeping them.
I do not feel that we need the street lights,and would be in favour of getting rid of them.They are a waste of money,the up keep of them alone.perhaps the one on station road could be kept as there is a footpath.
I don't think the cost of just 3 street lights would be that much. How much exactly do they cost in total to maintain and run each year? Unless we know this amount how can anyone make an informed choice on what is best for this community?
How about the Community Council keeping them for now, include them in the 'Special Expenses' until the Council has looked carefully into the pros and cons of having them. Maybe we should keep them long them, or perhaps remove them altogether, or even increase the number of street lights in line with the new housing developments (40 new houses still to be decided for Station Rd)? The street lighting is a sensitive subject and something that should NOT be rushed through and needs proper consideration and not based on the opinions by just those who read this forum.
At our meeting on Thursday your Council decided to ask for an extension to the decision making process from South Norfolk Council so as to seek further representation from the wider community and those not served by this Message Board. If no extension is obtained Council will retain the lights and review again on a date yet to be decided.
The street lights on chepore lane near the existing traveller site have not worked for years. This has made that part of the road a no go area as we do not feel safe walking there anymore.
The street lamps referred to are actually in the ownership of the highways agency and were installed as part of the A11 works. They are not anything to do with the Community council or district council
The community council asked me to look at these as I was around when provision was reviewed. See below
Last year , the county council and the Highways authority turned off a large number of street lamps to save money, as allegedly no longer required and of limited value. They wrote to Wymondham Town who asked that some be retained for safety reasons which was agreed on a yearly review basis and is evidenced by the number that are working on the old London road, which appears a bit haphazard at night to say the least. It is a terible waste of resources and will cost considerable sums to remove them so there they sit rotting away.
The units in Chepore lane were not even part of the discussion as I recall, and please be advised that the Highways Agency is a national body and NOT the same as the Highways Dept, which is county council.
Ongoing provision of Street lamps and where is clearly very topical and we have to make a decision on retention of existing very shortly.
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Unnecessarily complicated!
I am also pleased that the council consulted with us first. A welcomed decision to keep and upgrade the existing street lamps to be more energy efficient.