CRIME will rise when streetlights are switched off to save money, the mayor of Blandford fears.

Cllr Esme Butler spoke out over Dorset County Council’s plans for a black-out in some areas between midnight and 5.30am.

The plan is being rolled out across the county. Blandford’s turn is due within weeks, though a final date has yet to be decided.

Cllr Butler said: “I am concerned that the level of crime – and the fear of crime – will rise. I want to see statistics of the impact on crime in the area after the switch off and I don’t think this will save the money they say it will.

“My concern is mainly for the elderly and the vulnerable. I don’t think they will feel secure.”

Cllr Butler said she was also concerned about young people coming home from a night out.

She added: “They will leave on the lights on the way to the hospital and in the town centre, and the lights on the bypass, though that seems like a waste of time to me.”

The county council plans to switch off 1,300 of its 42,000 streetlights in a move to save save £150,000 a year from its £1.87million annual bill.