Have you ever had to drive in pitch-black darkness? Probably not, but for many residents across Kent this is now in the nearby future. Currently the UK experiences between 600,000 and 800,000 road accidents and approximately 450,000 burglaries each year, which could soon be on the increase due to a lack of street lights at night.

Kent County Council has stated that, in order to reduce energy costs, carbon emissions and light pollution we are switching off 2,500 surplus street lights on a trial basis for a year. We are also converting 70,000 street lights to part-time operation. These changes are predicted to reduce annual energy costs by about £1 million and carbon emissions by 5,000 tones.

Although the council have promised to monitor safety issues, many residents still do not feel satisfied. A resident of an area in Kent affected said, “rest assured as I am being mugged, I’ll be thinking how pleased I am that I am saving the council’s electricity bill.”

Although Kent County Council has stated that they had a consultation prior to switching off the lights, the majority of residents did not receive this warning. Please don’t keep us in the dark any longer!

Amy Crawford Based on information supplied by Amy Crawford.