Kent County Council (KCC) has voted against a Right for Light campaigner's motion to turn street lights back on with immediate effect.

Gravesend's Tina Brooker, 52, presented to the full council in the KCC meeting this afternoon (March 26), after her petition gained 11,000 signatures, passing the 10,000 needed to appear before the council.

KCC has already reversed their decision to switch to part night lighting, turning off lights between 1am and 6.30am.

The council will instead replace current street lights with energy efficient LEDs.

The project will take three years to implement, with lights remaining off in the mean time.

Miss Brooker told News Shopper: "People think they are getting the LEDs straight away, but they won’t it will be years."

Miss Brooker said in the meeting: "I would like to ask that you all please step away from party politics just for today, and listen to the message being conveyed here from the people of Kent - 11,000 people who you represent.

“I would like to highlight today the fear of crime as I feel it’s previously been swept aside as irrelevant.

“It is not irrelevant to the people who suffer its affects. The fear of crime is disabling and can erode public health and psychological well-being.

“Given the choice people, especially those in urban areas, want all night street lighting and the feeling of safety and well being that it affords them.

“The people of Kent feel they have had a curfew imposed upon them. They are fearful for themselves and for their families.

“Today we ask that you prove you are listening council to the people’s plea and restore all night lighting to our streets immediately."

She also claimed that six people had died on Kent's roads since the part night lighting scheme was introduced, with coroners saying it was a "major contributory factor".

Conservative Cllr Paul Carter said: "I don’t think we should engage in a knee jerk reaction.

"Because the evidence from the police is yet to come forward.

"Looking at whether or not crime has been affected by the part-night lighting."

“I would like to highlight today the fear of crime as I feel it’s previously been swept aside as irrelevant.

“It is not irrelevant to the people who suffer its affects. The fear of crime is disabling and can erode public health and psychological well-being.

"We all pay for our street lighting.

“Given the choice people, especially those in urban areas, want all night street lighting and the feeling of safety and well being that it affords them.

“The people of Kent feel they have had a curfew imposed upon them. They are fearful for themselves and for their families.

“Today we ask that you prove you are listening council to the people’s plea and restore all night lighting to our streets immediately."

She claimed that six people had died on Kent's roads since the part night lighting scheme was introduced, with coroners saying it was a "major contributory factor".

Conservative Cllr Paul Carter said: "I don’t think we should engage in a knee jerk reaction.

"Because the evidence from the police is yet to come forward, looking at whether or not crime has been affected by the part-night lighting."