Partial street lights switch-off

The proposals would affect about a third of Carmarthenshire's street lights

A third of a county's street lighting could be switched off for up five hours per night to save money.

Carmarthenshire council is looking at plans to turn off one-in-three lights in residential areas and two-in-three on highways from 0030 GMT to 0530 GMT.

A report says turning off 6,000 out of 18,337 lights could save £67,000.

Last month, Blaenau Gwent council switched back on some street lights after people living in the area said they wanted them on.

Carmarthenshire council said it had "no plans to plunge the county into total darkness".

Areas exempt from the switch-off included roundabouts, junctions, pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, traffic calming areas, areas covered by CCTV, railway crossings and areas with sheltered housing.

It claimed a consultation with the public, emergency services, the community safety section, the road safety unit and traffic management suggested more than 70% of respondents backed the part-night lighting idea.

'Not notice'

The authority said the part-time switch off would reduce the council's carbon footprint by 370 tonnes in its first year.

Councillor Jim Jones, chairman of the group set up to investigate the option, said the majority of residents "will probably not even the notice the difference".

He said: "There are some members of the public that have misunderstood and think they are going to be plunged into total darkness, but this is not the case.

"I would like to reassure them that we are not switching off all the lights in the county."

A report goes before the council's environment scrutiny committee on 20 November.