We’ve been asked by the parish council to post this which explains the thinking behind their decision not to fund the lights which Cambridgeshire County Council propose to turn off or down from April 2016.

Milton Parish Council decided to seek the views of Milton residents about Cambridgeshire County Council’s proposed changes to street lighting.
At a meeting of the parish council on the 28th September 2015 the results of this survey were discussed (see below) and the decision was taken not to pay for additional lights to be kept on after midnight or to have some lights kept fully on during the period of dimmed lighting. The survey showed that the majority of respondents did not wish to pay twice, once to the county and again to the parish, to maintain the existing level of street lighting. There was general unhappiness at the unfairness of most villages keeping their existing level of street lighting without paying extra.

Residents also in their responses raised concerns that if lights were to be turned off there were areas of Milton that should remain lit after midnight. These included areas such as passageways, bridges and areas of crime. It is disappointing that the County Council seem to have not considered these areas when deciding where lights would be turned off.

The parish council feels the timing and timescale of process of seeking a decision from us as to whether we should fund any additional level of street lighting (above the reduced level proposed by the County Council) was inappropriate. The summer holiday period is problematic for determining local opinion and since implementation is not until April 2016 it would have been reasonable to give much longer to respond. A common comment in the responses to our survey is that a sensible response to the level of dimming could not be given until the effect of the dimming could be seen.

Residents felt they were being asked to accept a pig in a poke. It would have been helpful if the county council had had a trial of the dimming and turning off of lights during the consultation period to allow the residents to the see affects before judging whether or not the lights should remain on and this should be considered during any consultation period for other areas.

Street lighting has been seen as important since the Roman times when oil lamps were used to light communities.

Before incandescent lamps, candle lighting was used in cities. The earliest lamps required that a lamplighter be employed to tour the town at dusk, lighting each of the lamps, but later designs used ignition devices that would automatically strike the flame when the gas supply was activated.

In 1417 in London the Mayor ordered that there should be public illumination.

It is also interesting that lighting the streets was seen as so important that the Corporation of London in 1716 required all housekeepers, whose houses faced any street, lane, or passage, were to hang out, every dark night, one or more lights, to burn from six to eleven o’clock, under threat of a penalty of one shilling as a fine for failing to do so.

The lighting we have today has evolved from this to deal with modern living when nightlife and work takes people out during the night.

So what has changed now? Why is it suddenly a good idea to turn out and dim lights in some Cambridgeshire communities? Not only this but we have also in recent years lost our local bobby on the beat.

Milton Parish Council will review, in December 2016, the effects of the reduction in street lighting.

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Summary of Responses to Survey

Number of responses.

Paper	124 (34%)
Online	242 (66%)
TOTAL	366

Not all forms were fully completed so totals for individual questions will be less than 366

Question 1

Do you think the Parish Council should pay to keep lights on that are to be switched off between midnight and 6 am?

Yes	152 (42.5%)	No	207 (57.5%)

Question 2

Do you think the Parish Council should pay to keep all the lights on fully so that they are not dimmed at all times?

Yes	95 (26.4%)	No	265 (73.6%)

Question 3

If the decision is not to pay for all the lighting after midnight are there any particular lights that you feel should remain on?

Yes	138 (40.6%)	No	202 (59.4%)

Question 4

If the decision is not to pay for all the lights to remain on fully and they are therefore to be dimmed at all times are there any particular lights that you feel should not be dimmed?

Yes	97 (32.1%)	No	235 (67.9%)

Common themes from Question 3 and Question 4 where lights should be left on or dimmed are:

All on Main roads	13
Nearest to Junctions	16
Paths between Roads	43
Every Other Light	9
Bus stops	3
Butt Lane and Coles Road	5
Cut back trees obscuring existing lights	7
Humphries Way	5

Various residents had also raised issues relating to a possible increase in crime and accidents.