HALF of Newport’s street lights will be switched back on at night, following complaints shift workers felt unsafe travelling to or from their homes in the early hours.
Currently, street lights are switched off between midnight and 6am – except those in the city centre and along “highway safety critical areas”.
But that is set to change, after Newport City Council’s cabinet approved a new policy that leader Cllr Dimitri Batrouni said would “show we are on the side of those workers”.
Perceptions of crime, linked to dark streets, have also played a part in residents’ calls for a big switch-on.
But it could be 15 months before the new policy comes into force, because the council has to order and fit new light-sensitive cells to thousands of lampposts.
The local authority started reducing its street light operating hours in 2012, and moved to the current level in 2022.
Cllr Rhian Howells, the cabinet member for infrastructure, told colleagues “we’ve all received significant feedback on this matter”.
The new approach will cost an initial £320,000 to install the new equipment, and an estimated £139,000 annually in energy bills.
While noting the move “comes at a financial and carbon cost”, Cllr Howells said the “importance of our residents feeling safe is paramount to us”.
Other cabinet members agreed to back the switch-on, including Cllr Laura Lacey, who explained senior councillors previously had little option but to turn lights off, owing to financial pressures.
Doing so had helped protect other “critical” areas, such as social services, she said, adding she would “completely support” the new policy “now the money’s there”.
However, there was some concern from Cllr Yvonne Forsey, the cabinet member for climate change, that switching street lights back on could impact Newport’s environmental ambitions.
Cllr Forsey said she hoped Newport could eventually embrace new technology around “smart” lights that respond to movement and switch on when pedestrians approach.
Cllr Howells said she was “amenable” to those changes further down the line, but Cllr Batrouni conceded the technology was “very much in its infancy”.
“Smart street lights are the future, and definitely something we want to be a part of,” he added.
