The part-night street lighting trial being tested out in various roads across the Wokingham Borough has been met with support by residents and the police as it approaches the five month milestone.  

The borough council, which is running a pilot scheme similar to many other part-night light schemes across the country, has received more than 90 responses to the trail since it started in June.

Of these comments around 33 per cent were in support of the scheme and the majority of the other comments were based on residents’ perception that crime would increase – especially burglary.

However, police have this week confirmed that since the switch off of more than 500 lights between midnight and 5.30am, crime and disorder does not appear to have increased in the trial areas.

Insp Denise Blackburn, area commander for Wokingham, said: “The concern that switching off lights overnight would impact on dwelling burglary is not borne out - a high percentage of dwelling burglary offences take place during daylight hours when people leave their homes unoccupied and, in many cases, insecure.”

To ensure only appropriate sites are selected prior to the introduction of any trial, the proposed locations are put forward to the local police so that they are able to check their recording systems to make sure that areas where there are higher levels of crime, disorder or concern about public safety are not included.

Insp Blackburn added: “Following the introduction of the trial - the trial areas are continuously monitored to check whether there has been any increase in crime, disorder or road collisions and, if any sites do experience a rise, this would result in a review of the trial site.”

All the lights selected for the trial have been carefully chosen according to an extensive list of exemption categories, which were consulted upon with parish and town councils. Thames Valley Police has also been consulted on the exemption categories and supports the criteria.

Residents’ safety and wellbeing is important and so lights have only been selected for the trial if they are not covered by one or more of the exemption categories. The exemption categories are as follows:                 

• Lights at major junctions/ roundabouts 
• In town centres where there is CCTV, high security businesses like banks, and/or lots of people at night, for example near nightclubs and train stations, outside community facilities like the British Legion or leisure centres
• Areas where street lights are needed to reduce road accidents     
• Areas where there could be an increase in crime through reduced lighting, like pubs and specific residential areas
• Remote alleys linking residential streets
• Near traffic islands, pedestrian crossings, footbridges, subways or where the council has a specific duty of care
• In public car parks
• At bus stops 
• At level crossings, speed humps, traffic lights
• Where there is sheltered housing for the elderly    

So far 500 of the 1,000 trial lights have been switched off - a further 500 lights are due to be switched off in the next few weeks so that the environmental and financial benefits of the scheme can be achieved. Residents living in areas directly affected by the second wave of trial lights will receive a letter and leaflet explaining the trial before the lights are turned off.

Councillor Keith Baker, executive member for highways and transport, said: “We’ve been running this scheme since June and so far there hasn’t been any reported crime related to the trial.

"I completely understand that some people may have a perceived fear that crime will rise if the lights are switched off but, in reality, the Wokingham Borough is a very safe place to live and records show the trial hasn’t caused any further crime, so this perceived fear is completely unfounded.

“We will be turning the second lot of trial lights off in the next few weeks and have widely consulted on these locations with all the emergency services – removing any site that they feel is an inappropriate trial location.

“This scheme may be new to the Wokingham Borough, but similar schemes have been running successfully across the country and, just like those schemes, it’s already proving to be a success in the borough with energy consumption and carbon emissions being reduced.”                  

Alongside the part night lighting trail, the council is also trialling a dimming system that will also help achieve energy savings.