A part-night street lighting programme in Worcestershire will continue as planned.

Around 52,000 street lights and 8,000 illuminated road signs are managed by the council. The combination of all this costs the council £2.4 million a year. They are also responsible for around 20% of the total CO2 emission, which is currently taxed at £12 per tonne.

After a successful trial completed last year, the council agreed to start part-night lighting in residential and industrial estates. The lights will be turned off at midnight and turned back on at 6am and is expected to save around £500,000. However, the main roads that get the most traffic will not be included in the switch off. Energy efficient lamps will also not be included in the switch off.

County Council Cabinet member for highways, John Smith OBE, said:

The street-lighting project is progressing well and will continue around Worcestershire over the coming months to ensure lamps are fitted with the technology that allows us to reduce costs to the taxpayer and cut our carbon emissions. We’ve been clear throughout that simply adopting a ‘one-size, fits all’ approach wouldn’t work. It’s important for people to understand what we’re doing. The programme is looking at a part-night switch off, between midnight and 6am only, of around 2 out of every 3 lights on mostly residential and industrial estates, which tend to have speed limits of 30mph. Those lights on major routes, on junctions or bends will remain on in fall.

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