A review on the highly controversial switch-off of street lights across Powys will start next week, the Journal can exclusively reveal.
The review will follow the same area timetable as the original switch-off programme, starting with Llandrindod Wells and Builth Wells, before moving across the county.
The review process is likely to involve county, town and community councillors and key stakeholders, said a spokesman for Powys County Council.
It will consider issues such as the background to the switch-off, the implementation of the process, an analysis of correspondence received, and the impact on key stakeholders and sustainability.
A report on the findings will be presented to Powys County Council’s Board before the end of the year.
Complaints have flooded into the council since the switch-off began in the Llandrindod Wells area on September 8. There have been complaints about people being afraid to leave their homes, falling, concerns about children walking home from school in the dark and fears of a potential increase in crime.
Some members of the council have also been vocal about what they consider to be a bad decision and implementation.
A spokesman for Powys County Council said: “To date the council has responded to in the region of 560 complaints and we are continuing to do so because they are still coming in thick and fast. But we have also received 35 positive comments.”
The council said the switch-off of 7,500 lights in non-core areas was necessary to fund massive increases in energy bills.
Two out of three lights in non-sensitive areas have been switched off as the council tries to save £220,000, cut the council’s carbon footprint by up to 1,100 tonnes a year and reduce night sky pollution. Some 6,500 lights out of 14,000 across the county have been left on.
The process is due to end this week, with the last of the lights to go off in the Newtown area.
But despite the complaints and comments, at a full council meeting on October 23 councillors agreed to carry on with the switch-off and to carry out a review at the end, even though the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had put forward motions called for a moratorium on the switch-off and the restoration of lights where public safety had been compromised, together with an immediate review of the situation.
Town and community councils were initially asked to identify which lights in their areas could be turned to part-night lighting, but the council said the response was poor and with energy increases and time, it meant they had to take a more radical approach.