Right to Light campaigners are urging Kent residents to join a street lights march on Parliament next month.

The all-day march is taking place outside the House of Commons on March 25 to protest against councils turning lights off at night.

Gravesend campaigner Tina Brooker, who started the Right to Light petition, will march with organisers from Essex and other affected areas.

Ms Brooker, who lives in The Warren, said the march is about "standing together with all the regions that are going to do it".

Despite Kent County Council’s pledge to turn street lights back on, the 52-year-old is worried about the time scale of the project to install new LED lights.

She said: "It could be a year, two years, three years, four years, and people are still saying to me they want them on now."

News Shopper:

Tina Brooker

Ms Brooker is concerned the council has currently only secured part of the budget for the LEDs.

She believes that until funding has been secured she cannot know the updates will happen at all.

She added: "It’s still not really a definite now. We are still trying to find out a timetable."

Ms Brooker says plans for the march are "still in their infancy" and she is trying to arrange transport with the local Labour party.

She said: "I am speaking to the Labour party because they have been involved in this campaign.

"They have been heavily involved in this from the start."

Kent County Council (KCC) voted on the budget for street lighting in a full council meeting last Thursday, January 12.

Kent County Council leader Paul Carter said: “There was a significant cost associated with converting lights to LED when the decision was made to trial the streetlight changes.

“Those changes reduced Kent County Council's annual energy costs by about £1 million a year.

"The world has moved on since then and the cost benefit on LED conversion is now there and it's something we can take advantage of.

“We also have an interest-free loan which will substantially reduce the costs."

A Freedom of Information request made by Miss Brooker to KCC asking for the individual unit prices and energy costs for street lighting was refused.

However they did disclose that KCC’s projected energy spend for 2014/15 was £5,517,500, down from £5,642,593 in the previous year, partly as a result of the night lighting scheme.

The council spokesperson wrote: “Our records do show that the part night lighting scheme has resulted in a reduction of energy used and therefore amount paid when comparing this year to last.”