STREET lighting will be switched off in parts of East Dorset over the coming weeks to save money.

Changes to night-time street lighting will be introduced in Verwood, St Leonards and St Ives, Wimborne and Colehill as part of Dorset County Council’s drive to reduce energy costs.

Lamps will be switched off at around 1am or midnight during the autumn/winter months in roads where there are no sig-nificant concerns over road safety or crime.

The changes will begin in Verwood, St Leonards and St Ives in mid-May, and in the Wimborne and Colehill area early in June.

Almost 3,300 lights will be turned off between 1am and 6.30am BST and midnight and 5.30am GMT.

The lights will come back on again in the morning only if it is still dark.

Around 800 lights will remain lit all night on main roads, within the town centres and on roads with any speed humps.

It will take around four to six weeks for SSE Contracting, the county council’s street lighting partner, to complete the changes, which involve changing the light sensor on each lamp to a special timed version.

Part-night lighting has been rolled out across Dorset since 2011.

It is now operating on residential streets in Dorchester, Weymouth, Portland, Christ-church, Blandford, Sherborne, Shaftesbury, Gillingham, Corfe Mullen, Ferndown, West Moors and Swanage.

Some residents feared crime would rise in these areas but there is no evidence this has happened.

Dorset Police investigated claims in Dorchester that anti-social behaviour had risen following the switch-off and found that there had been no increase in the areas where the lights had been turned off.

Incidents of anti-social behaviour reported during the hours of darkness reduced from 36 per cent in 2010 to 31 per cent in 2011.

The part-night street lighting programme is part of the county council’s ongoing work to find significant budget savings and will be extended to all remaining towns and villages over the next year.

For more information visit www.dorsetforyou.com/partnightlighting