The controversial switch-off of street lights in Powys could be stopped next week, after both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives decided to put motions before Full Council on Thursday.
The Lib Dems’ motion will call for a moratorium on the switch-off programme and where public safety is compromised that these lights be reinstated.
They will also call on the energy working group to look at alternative options such as part-night lighting.
The Conservative motion is very similar with them calling for an immediate review to be undertaken to take into account all the concerns expressed.
Councillor Sarah Millington, who tabled the motion, said: “We believe that the implementation process for turning off 67% of street lights throughout the county was – and continues to be – seriously flawed.
“Based on public outcry, the review programme is not immediate enough and needs to be exercised quicker than originally planned.
“Alternative policies and ideas such as one in three lights, part-night lighting, use of led bulbs or a combination of the above were not considered extensively enough.
“The consultation process was not as effective and robust as it should have been; once officers decided which specific lights they would propose to turn off, town and community councils were not given the opportunity to comment and decide if they wanted to pay the cost of keeping certain lights on; county councillors were not given enough time to absorb the information and make any comments they felt necessary.
“As a result we therefore propose that an immediate review be undertaken taking into account all of the concerns given.”
The leader of the Liberal Democrats on Powys County Council, Councillor John Morris, said he was hoping they could work together with the Tories before the full council meeting, either to push one motion more than the other, or to amend them.
He said: “I think there is cross-party support for this. My feeling is that although members of the Board rejected Councillor Ken Harris’ proposal for an immediate review last week, I think we should win this motion if there is any sense in the world.”
The move comes as a Llandrindod Wells pensioner claims he is reporting Powys County Council to the Local Government Ombudsman over the lights switch-off and has called for the chief executive to go.
Dennis Cleaton of Victoria Road claims the council has failed to communicate with and advise residents of the switch-off and are guilty of mal-administration.
A former councillor himself in Hampshire, Mr Cleaton, said: “I have the forms here to make a complaint to the Ombudsman. I don’t believe the council has communicated with residents about this issue. Why didn’t the officers write to the public about the programme and hold public meetings? The public were in the dark about this long before the lights went out.
“And I think the chief executive Mark Kerr should go. I rang his secretary and asked for an appointment to speak to him about the lights switch-off and I was told that he does not speak to individuals. I even gave her a telephone number for him to contact me and I have not heard a thing.”
Mr Cleaton claims the lack of street lighting outside his home is worse than in the war years.
He points out that Victoria Road is a core area – where Powys have said the lights will remain on – because the school buses leave and arrive there, schoolchildren walk along there to school, and cars park along both sides of the road.
“In a couple of weeks when the clocks are turned back it is going to be dark when the children are going to and coming from school, so Powys County Council is running out of time to put this decision right.
“Soon the school buses will be going out and arriving in the dark, children will be walking to and from school and parents will be dropping their children off and picking them up in the dark, and to add to this there are cars parked along both sides of the road. It will be dangerous.”
At Builth Wells Town Council on Tuesday, county councillor Avril York said she and others on the county council’s Principal Scrutiny Committee had tried to call in the Board’s decision to switch off street lights, but they had been told they were not allowed to.
She said she would continue to lobby. “I am absolutely inundated with people complaining about it, mostly people worried that they will fall or older people afraid to go out at night. It’s really concerning and I think we have to look at other options.”
At the Radnorshire Committee meeting on Wednesday, chairman Councillor Margaret Morris said the village of Boughrood had been left without a light. “On Saturday night when people were leaving the pub they were almost falling into the River Wye.
Councillor Kelvyn Curry added: “I think what has happened is absolute madness. I think we should stop what we are doing and do a complete review now not wait until the end of the year.
“We are wasting money having men switching the lights off then coming back and putting some back on, and people are getting more and more annoyed. It’s an absolute mess.”
Councillor Gary Price said: “It has been an almighty mess and we as members have had it in the neck for it.”
At Knighton Town Council on Wednesday night, members agreed to write to Powys County Council in time for Thursday’s full council meeting, and ask for part-night lighting where the lights have been switched off with the core area lighting left on.
Powys County Council’s programme to turn off more than 9,000 lights in a bid to save £225,000, hit the national media this week, with several radio stations covering the item, BBC correspondent Colette Hume reporting from Knighton for the BBC’s breakfast programme and a spot on the One Show on Tuesday.
The AA also attacked Powys’ programme claiming it is putting residents’ safety at risk. They claim it could to an increase in crashes and a rise in crime.
The group also says that rather than switching off street lights, some local authorities should be switching off their own office lights at night.
