UPDATED: Lights won't go out in Colehill after all (From Bournemouth Echo)

UPDATED: Lights won't go out in Colehill after all

12:50pm Saturday 2nd February 2013 in News

STREETLIGHTS will remain on all night in parts of Colehill after opposition in the area.

The county council had wanted to turn off streetlights between midnight and 5.30am in a bid to save £150,000 and reduce emissions.

Colehill Lib Dem county councillor Janet Dover had described the plans as “unacceptable” and it has now been decided to leave lights on where road narrowing traffic calming measures are in place.

The council is beginning a permanent switch-off of street lights at night, except for town centres and what it calls “high-risk areas”, following a trial last year.

Cllr Dover, who leads the Lid Dem group on Dorset County Council, told the Daily Echo she’d pushed for County Hall to review its decision on plunging the traffic calming zones into darkness on a number of occasions.

“We eventually had a very frank discussion and they said they would keep them lit after all,” said the councillor. “This is great news as there were real fears someone could get either seriously injured or worse.”

The zones in question are comprised of three chicanes on Colehill’s Middlehill Road.

Cllr Dover added: “These traffic calming zones are confusing enough in the daylight. Residents who live nearby say they often hear squealing of brakes and road rage incidents because of them.

“It would have been crazy to have them unlit.”