Turn Our Street Lights Back On

TURN OUR STREET LIGHTS BACK ON

PUBLIC MEETING ELSTREE LIBERAL SYNAGOGUE SUNDAY - 15/01/12 - 8PM

INTRODUCTION

• HISTORY • WHY ARE THE LIGHTS ON PART TIME? • WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? • WHY IS PART TIME LIGHTING A PROBLEM? • COUNCIL ACTION / COMMENT • ALTERNATIVES • OUR CAMPAIGN • ACTIONS – WHAT YOU CAN DO • Q&A

WHY?

Change to street lighting at night = Save £1.3m PA

The council has identified efficiency savings across services rising to £110m a year.

115,000 street lights cost £3.4m in energy consumption A further £5m on maintenance, and £1.5m in 2010 on replacements.

Nov 2010 council's cabinet approved plans to save an estimated £1.3m a year plus reducing carbon emissions. (22,300 tonnes = 1/5th of countys’ total) Govt introducing a CO2 tax = £300k pa.

EXCEPTIONS

Significant night time economy. These areas contain the majority of restaurants, pubs, night clubs, major transport hubs and similar facilities that encourage pedestrians to be active in the immediate area later in the night. Road traffic obstructions where there is a obstruction on the road (such as a junction on a main road, a roundabout, central island, traffic calming measure, pedestrian crossing etc) the street lights associated with the obstruction will be left on all night. Traffic routes with a history of night time accidents will also be left on CCTV coverage and zones of relatively higher crime locations covered by the authority's CCTV cameras will be left in all-night illumination. Areas of night-time crime will be identified in consultation with the Police and they will recommend an appropriate treatment level of lighting for those areas

RESPONSIBILITY?

BINS, FIREWORKS, XMAS LIGHTS FREE XMAS PARKING

STREET LIGHTS

COUNCILLOR STUART PILE

Councillor Stuart Pile, the county council's executive member for highways and transport, said the decision to turn the lights off between midnight and 6am was taken because that is when “road and pedestrian traffic is significantly lower.”

He added: “Before agreeing the new arrangements, we needed to be satisfied that they would not lead to higher levels of crime or accidents.

"Fortunately, as many highways authorities have already introduced similar schemes, the police and highways experts have been able to draw on the evidence from those areas which shows that, despite some people’s fears, actual safety does not decline.

“We shall, of course, keep the review of any impact in Hertfordshire and will be ready to adjust the scheme, should that be necessary.”

SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

• CRIME / FEAR OF CRIME

• FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT / CURFEW • ELDERLY / LESS ABLED / PEOPLE LIVING ALONE • SHIFT WORKERS / TRAINS • SERVICES: DOCTORS/PARAMEDICS/POLICE/FIRE • HEALTH & SAFETY – WALKING/SPEEDING/VISIBILITY • ROAD ACCIDENTS – OBSTACLES CAN’T BE SEEN • CYCLISTS & DOG WALKERS • ENVIRONMENTLY UNFRIENDLY • TECHNOLOGY IS FLAWED • COSTS VS BENEFITS £4.5M

PRISONERS IN OUR OWN HOMES

“A recent report by children’s charity PLAN UK highlighted that 91% of 13-18 yr old girls said better street lighting would make a big difference to whether they felt safe on the streets. CEO Marie Staunton said that issues such as poor street lighting needed to be tackled (and not switched off). “

CRIME / FEAR OF CRIME

Overnight last night Friday 2nd December 2011 there were three separate thefts from motor vehicles. They occurred in Torworth Road, Ranskill Road and The Campions in Borehamwood between 0030-0630 hours. They targeted small electrical goods and in one case got into the car through the unlocked passenger door.

CRIME

A TINY village has had its first ever crimewave — after skint council bosses switched off all the street lights. Residents are furious the nightly blackouts have led to a spate of break-ins, thefts and vandalism in Sandend, Banffshire, and have signed a petition to get the lights restored. Heating fuel has been stolen from outdoor tanks, car tyres have been been punctured and houses broken into, while gangs of youths are prowling the streets for the first time. Police have had reports of five crimes since August.

A council spokeswoman said: "Evaluation has taken place. Councillors will decide the next steps, looking at the advantages and disadvantages identified by the trial."

CRIME

YOUR SENTIMENTS

YOUR SENTIMENTS

FLAWED TECHNOLOGY

ENVIRONMENTALLY UNFRIENDLY

• OLD TECHNOLOGY WILL NOT REDUCE MAINTENANCE ISSUES OR REPLACEMENT COSTS OF £6.5M APPROX PA • NOT THE MOST EFFICIENT SOLUTION BY FAR

• CARBON EMISSION REDUCTIONS OFFSET BY PURCHASE OF MORE HOME LIGHTING, TORCHES & BATTERIES

IMPLICATIONS OF SWITCHING OFF

• Various Highway Authorities have already started switching off street lights to save money. Buckinghamshire has areas blacked out and has seen a number of accidents in these non illuminated areas. The Coroner investigating a fatality in this area directly linked the lack of lighting with the accident. He said, ‘the driver had no chance to see the lady crossing the road without any street lights operating’.

• Recently some communities have rebelled against their local authorities and in 2008 a resident of Llangynop, a village in South Wales, paid £295 to have his village lit at night for the winter after Powys Council turned off the street lights to save money. This worked out at around 15p per lamp per night.

HIDDEN COSTS

• The Highways Act stipulates that unless signed otherwise, lit streets have a speed limit of 30mph. If the street lighting is taken away, the speed limit would then have to be advised and enforced through new signage, which would involve additional costs.

• The lighting of speed limit signs (30mph etc) is often linked into street light circuits and no lighting will require new signage.

• CCTV systems require street lighting – camera operation at night could be severely compromised

• Where lights have been in operation, it will be necessary to clearly inform the public that the lights are not supposed to work, rather than simply malfunctioning.

• Switching lights off could actually raise the energy tariffs paid by local authorities, by reducing the low-rate tariff paid at night and increasing the percentage of high tariff use. Energy suppliers are already reviewing the use of variable rates and the lower tariff energy saved from midnight to 6.00am will reduce overall cost savings.

• The cost associated with changing the lamp’s photo-cell to part-night switching is £21 – or nearly nine months’ energy costs for the average street light.

MATHS

Street Light costs

115,000 street lights cost £3.4m in energy consumption A further £5m on maintenance, and £1.5m in 2010 on replacements. TOTAL = £10m Population of Hertfordshire = 1.1m £9 per person p.a. or £0.75p per month 2p a day!

COUNCILLOR STUART PILE

“I am not entering the debate to reverse a decision which was made after much consideration.....The decision to implement this scheme was taken following the proper democratic process and in consultation with local members and the police..... Some people have asked if we can turn the lights back on for the festive period, but this is simply not feasible – it’s not as easy as flicking a switch to turn them on and off. I do appreciate all your concerns however I do not agree with the scaremongering of some people. To say that we have done this with no regard to the wellbeing of people is frankly untrue”

COUNCIL ACTION

Robert Gordon, Leader of Herts CC: "I have been following your e-mail exchanges with Stuart Pile. The Council speaks through the relevant Cabinet Member which, here, is Stuart. It would be unhelpful to have two respondents giving the same messages. I am replying to those who write or e-mail personally to me." robert.gordon@hertscc.gov.uk

ALTERNATIVES

COUNCIL MISMANAGEMENT • PUBLIC CONSULTATION

• BETTER PUBLICITY • MORE ENGAGEMENT WITH COMMUNITY • TAKING MORE PROFESSIONAL ADVICE • MORE TRANSPARENCY • TAKING THEIR TIME

BETTER CHOICES • HOURS OF PART TIME COULD BE BETTER • ALTERNATE LIGHTING • MORE EFFICIENT LIGHTING – LED • WHITE LIGHTING • LIGHTS ON SENSOR • DIMMING • INCREASING COUNCIL TAX BY £9 • NOT CHANGING ANYTHING

ALTERNATIVES

ALTERNATIVES

BBC 1 Inside Out programme.

The show explored the issues caused which prevent populations from seeing stars. The Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS), who presented a Good Lighting Award to Indal WRTL for their Midlands M6 Toll Road lighting scheme, is run by the British Astronomical Association (BAA). It is manufactured using a large proportion of recycled materials. The low profile aerodynamic housing, for example, is made from 100% recycled aluminium. Installations of this next generation luminaire across the UK are already contributing toward high energy saving for local authorities and reducing CO2 emissions by up to 68% compared to traditional solutions. This ensures they are on track to exceed UK government CO2 reduction targets for 2035 well ahead of schedule. On average, Stela installations are saving 109 megawatt hours of energy and 58.5 tonnes of CO2 per month. As the average household consumes a little over 3 megawatt hours of energy per annum, each month these installations are currently saving enough electricity to power 31 homes for a whole year and more are being installed every day. Life cycle assessments of carbon emissions estimate significant further savings in CO2 due to the virtually maintenance free performance of Stela. These savings come from a reduction in the fuel consumption of maintenance vehicles and through eliminating the need for replacements lamps and control gear.

GOOD FOR STAR GAZERS

BEFORE

AFTER

POOR DECISION

COMPETENT ADVICE

Research in Europe has shown that through the use of competent professional lighting designers/ engineers the energy-efficiency of a lighting installation can be improved by up to 30%. It is therefore imperative that any authority employs a competent lighting professional to manage its lighting asset and get the most from it. Too often we have seen the authority’s lighting role being passed to a highway manager, with little, if any, knowledge of lighting. As part of EU energy reduction measures, it is likely that the requirement for competent professional design expertise will become an EU legal requirement within the next few years,

Councillor Stuart Pile, the county council's executive member for highways and transport

PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP) Recommendations

• Switching off street lights, in all but a limited number of locations (see below) is a short-sighted, socially corrosive and ultimately uneconomic course of action.

• Authorities should ask, are we over-lighting the streets? And could we drop a lighting class?

• Authorities could change to ‘white light’ – BS5489 allows a drop of one lighting S class by using white light.

• Authorities should embrace new technology: electronic control gear replacing old magnetic gear can immediately save 10% of energy; and LED street lights are increasingly able to illuminate streets with less power - and their price is falling.

• Authorities should dim their lighting, using CMS or pre-set electronic gear:

• In Residential Areas - consult with residents and other stake-holders, but consider dimming to 50% light output from 8.00pm, and consider dropping to 20% if possible between midnight and 5.00am. When dimming to low levels also consider the use of local presence detectors to raise levels if pedestrians are around.

Source: Nigel Parry on 01788 576492 or nigel@theilp.org.uk

OUR CAMPAIGN

COVERAGE

STATUS

• BOREHAMWOOD TIMES • LBC • HERTSMERE BOROUGH COUNCIL • HERTS CC • STEVENAGE BOROUGH COUNCIL • NORTHAMPTON COUNCILLOR • STELLA CREASY MP

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NORWICH CASE STUDY

• Then John stood up. “This cut is a curfew for me”, he said. John is partially sighted and would be forced to never leave his home at night. Silence followed in the crowd, the results of this cut now fully realised and the dire need for people to fight them understood.

• With the press in attendance, David Miliband spoke in support of our campaign and asked us to light up Norwich – at that point, my search for street lighting was worth every minute as we lit up the entire street and Marion Maxwell and her small team got a louder round of applause than I ever imagined 100 people could give.

• The streets will no longer be dark as a result of this action. Marion succeeded in forcing the Tory council to postpone the switching off of the lights and open public consultations, essentially winning not only the battle but this war as well.

• Marion also stood in a by-election for a completely unwinnable seat shortly after this. She and her newly recruited team of 15 volunteers worked tirelessly and, as a result, Marion lost the seat by just 100 votes. She is looking forward to May next year.

www.jamesabolton.com

ACTIONS

• PETITION / COUNCIL MEETING LOCAL COUNCILLORS

• SOCIAL MEDIA – FB & #STREETLIGHTS

• MEDIA COVERAGE

• EXPERTISE – LEGAL, H&S, LIGHTING

• FLYERS

• COORDINATION – LETTERS, EMAILS

• TELL & KNOCK

FINALLY....

LIBERAL SYNAGOGUE, ELSTREE

FACEBOOK GROUP CONTRIBUTORS

DANIEL GRAHAM E: daniel@centreradio.co.uk M: 07768 22 22 80 Twitter: @danielgraham FB: http://facebook.com/danielg99