For some, the point of turning off streetlights is to reveal the beauty of the night. Overwhelmingly, though, the aim is to save money
Outside big cities, they are doing so less. Over the past decade councils have replaced sodium-vapour lamps with light-emitting diodes , which use less energy and can cast light precisely on the pavement. They seldom run on full power. Since 2009 Hampshire has gone from dimming its lights by 25% in the middle of the night, to dimming them by 65%, to switching them off in residential areas. North Yorkshire is beginning to permit residential developments without streetlights.
Overwhelmingly, though, the aim is to save money. Despite rising electricity prices, Lincolnshire County Council has managed to cut spending on streetlights by a fifth in the past decade, to £4.6m . That is less than in some London boroughs, where the lights blaze on. Richard Davies, the councillor in charge of Lincolnshire highways, says complaints often fade when people hear that the savings have gone on social care and filling potholes.
In general, young people, women and left-wingers are the most concerned about climate change. But when Lincolnshire County Council surveyed residents, it found that the young were most opposed to turning off the lights. Female students at the University of Lincoln have lobbied for all-night lighting. Conservative rural districts are often content with darkness; urban ones dominated by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, less so.
Local authorities that have reduced public lighting tend to argue that crime does not increase as a result. That may be true. But Jemima Unwin, who studies attitudes to light at University College London, says that darkness appears to deter people from walking around, at least in the evenings. She also finds that pedestrians feel reassured when vertical objects, such as walls and other pedestrians, are well-lit.
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