Crime fear over move to turn off street lights

As reported on Thursday, about 8,000 of the city’s 92,000 street lights will remain off between midnight and 5.30am in a scheme to be launched in October, if members of Leeds City Council’s executive board approve the plans this week.

It is hoped the move would save the authority more than £1m over the next 10 years, although the cost of implementing the switch-off would be nearly £380,000. The council has said certain areas that have problems with crime and anti-social behaviour would be exempt.

But charity Community Action and Support Against Crime (CASAC), based in Meanwood, said people in the affected areas would have concerns.

Chief executive Neil Goldup said: “The council need to be very careful about which areas they choose. Until it’s put into place, no one will really know what the effect will be.

“If crime does increase, the lights should be turned back on immediately – not kept off while the council has lots of meetings about it.”

The Police Superintendents’ Association, among others, has said that good street lighting can reduce crime and the risk of road accidents.

Supt Keith Gilert, head of Leeds’s community safety department, said: “We hope people will be reassured to see that key areas are to be exempt from the switch-off, including those with above average crime rates, higher levels of anti-social behaviour, those covered by CCTV or with sheltered housing for elderly or vulnerable residents, and also roads with significant accident records or other safety issues.

“We will work to reassure and advise residents on how they can keep themselves and their property safe during the hours of darkness.”

The council said lights would be switched back on if problems arose.