fPresentation relating to Campaign in Hertfordshire to Turn Our Street Lights Back on, further to part time night lighting.

1. TURN OUR
STREET
LIGHTS
BACK ON
PUBLIC MEETING
ELSTREE LIBERAL SYNAGOGUE
SUNDAY - 15/01/12 - 8PM

2. INTRODUCTION
• HISTORY
• WHY ARE THE LIGHTS ON PART TIME?
• WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
• WHY IS PART TIME LIGHTING A PROBLEM?
• COUNCIL ACTION / COMMENT
• ALTERNATIVES
• OUR CAMPAIGN
• ACTIONS – WHAT YOU CAN DO
• Q&A

3. WHY?
Change to street lighting at night = Save £1.3m PA
The council has identified efficiency savings across
services rising to £110m a year.
115,000 street lights cost £3.4m in energy consumption
A further £5m on maintenance, and £1.5m in 2010 on
replacements.
Nov 2010 council's cabinet approved plans to save an estimated
£1.3m a year plus reducing carbon emissions. (22,300 tonnes =
1/5th of countys’ total)
Govt introducing a CO2 tax = £300k pa.

4. EXCEPTIONS
Significant night time economy. These areas contain the majority of
restaurants, pubs, night clubs, major transport hubs and similar
facilities that encourage pedestrians to be active in the immediate
area later in the night.
Road traffic obstructions where there is a obstruction on the road
(such as a junction on a main road, a roundabout, central island,
traffic calming measure, pedestrian crossing etc) the street lights
associated with the obstruction will be left on all night. Traffic routes
with a history of night time accidents will also be left on
CCTV coverage and zones of relatively higher crime locations covered
by the authority's CCTV cameras will be left in all-night illumination.
Areas of night-time crime will be identified in consultation with the
Police and they will recommend an appropriate treatment level of
lighting for those areas

5. RESPONSIBILITY?
BINS, FIREWORKS, XMAS LIGHTS STREET LIGHTS
FREE XMAS PARKING

6. COUNCILLOR STUART PILE
Councillor Stuart Pile, the county council's executive member for
highways and transport, said the decision to turn the lights off
between midnight and 6am was taken because that is when “road
and pedestrian traffic is significantly lower.”
He added: “Before agreeing the new arrangements, we needed to
be satisfied that they would not lead to higher levels of crime or
accidents.
"Fortunately, as many highways authorities have already introduced
similar schemes, the police and highways experts have been able to
draw on the evidence from those areas which shows that, despite
some people’s fears, actual safety does not decline.
“We shall, of course, keep the review of any impact in
Hertfordshire and will be ready to adjust the scheme, should that
be necessary.”

7. SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
• CRIME / FEAR OF CRIME
• FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT / CURFEW
• ELDERLY / LESS ABLED / PEOPLE LIVING ALONE
• SHIFT WORKERS / TRAINS
• SERVICES: DOCTORS/PARAMEDICS/POLICE/FIRE
• HEALTH & SAFETY – WALKING/SPEEDING/VISIBILITY
• ROAD ACCIDENTS – OBSTACLES CAN’T BE SEEN
• CYCLISTS & DOG WALKERS
• ENVIRONMENTLY UNFRIENDLY
• TECHNOLOGY IS FLAWED
• COSTS VS BENEFITS £4.5M

8. PRISONERS IN OUR OWN HOMES
“A recent report by children’s charity PLAN UK
highlighted that 91% of 13-18 yr old girls said
better street lighting would make a big difference
to whether they felt safe on the streets.
CEO Marie Staunton said that issues such as poor
street lighting needed to be tackled (and not
switched off). “

9. CRIME / FEAR OF CRIME

10. CRIME
Overnight last night Friday 2nd December 2011 there
were three separate thefts from motor vehicles. They
occurred in Torworth Road, Ranskill Road and The
Campions in Borehamwood between 0030-0630 hours.
They targeted small electrical goods and in one case got
into the car through the unlocked passenger door.

11. CRIME
A TINY village has had its first ever
crimewave — after skint council
bosses switched off all the street
lights.
Residents are furious the nightly
blackouts have led to a spate of
break-ins, thefts and vandalism in
Sandend, Banffshire, and have
signed a petition to get the lights
restored.
Heating fuel has been stolen from
outdoor tanks, car tyres have been
been punctured and houses broken
into, while gangs of youths are
prowling the streets for the first
time. Police have had reports of five
crimes since August.
A council spokeswoman said: "Evaluation has taken place. Councillors will decide the next steps, looking at the
advantages and disadvantages identified by the trial."

12. YOUR SENTIMENTS

13. YOUR SENTIMENTS

14. FLAWED TECHNOLOGY

15. ENVIRONMENTALLY UNFRIENDLY
• OLD TECHNOLOGY WILL NOT REDUCE
MAINTENANCE ISSUES OR REPLACEMENT
COSTS OF £6.5M APPROX PA
• NOT THE MOST EFFICIENT SOLUTION BY FAR
• CARBON EMISSION REDUCTIONS OFFSET BY
PURCHASE OF MORE HOME LIGHTING,
TORCHES & BATTERIES

16. IMPLICATIONS OF SWITCHING OFF
• Various Highway Authorities have already started switching off street
lights to save money. Buckinghamshire has areas blacked out and has seen
a number of accidents in these non illuminated areas. The Coroner
investigating a fatality in this area directly linked the lack of lighting with
the accident. He said, ‘the driver had no chance to see the lady crossing
the road without any street lights operating’.
• Recently some communities have rebelled against their local authorities
and in 2008 a resident of Llangynop, a village in South Wales, paid £295 to
have his village lit at night for the winter after Powys Council turned off
the street lights to save money. This worked out at around 15p per lamp
per night.

17. HIDDEN COSTS
• The Highways Act stipulates that unless signed otherwise, lit streets have a
speed limit of 30mph. If the street lighting is taken away, the speed limit
would then have to be advised and enforced through new signage, which
would involve additional costs.
• The lighting of speed limit signs (30mph etc) is often linked into street light
circuits and no lighting will require new signage.
• CCTV systems require street lighting – camera operation at night could be
severely compromised
• Where lights have been in operation, it will be necessary to clearly inform the
public that the lights are not supposed to work, rather than simply
malfunctioning.
• Switching lights off could actually raise the energy tariffs paid by local
authorities, by reducing the low-rate tariff paid at night and increasing the
percentage of high tariff use. Energy suppliers are already reviewing the use of
variable rates and the lower tariff energy saved from midnight to 6.00am will
reduce overall cost savings.
• The cost associated with changing the lamp’s photo-cell to part-night
switching is £21 – or nearly nine months’ energy costs for the average street
light.

18. MATHS
Street Light costs
115,000 street lights cost £3.4m in energy consumption
A further £5m on maintenance, and £1.5m in 2010 on
replacements.
TOTAL = £10m
Population of Hertfordshire = 1.1m
£9 per person p.a. or £0.75p per month
2p a day!

19. COUNCILLOR STUART PILE
“I am not entering the debate to reverse a decision which was
made after much consideration.....The decision to implement this
scheme was taken following the proper democratic process and in
consultation with local members and the police.....
Some people have asked if we can turn the lights back on for the
festive period, but this is simply not feasible – it’s not as easy as
flicking a switch to turn them on and off.
I do appreciate all your concerns however I do not agree with the
scaremongering of some people. To say that we have done this with
no regard to the wellbeing of people is frankly untrue”

20. COUNCIL ACTION
Robert Gordon, Leader of Herts CC: "I have
been following your e-mail exchanges with
Stuart Pile. The Council speaks through the
relevant Cabinet Member which, here, is
Stuart. It would be unhelpful to have two
respondents giving the same messages. I am
replying to those who write or e-mail
personally to me."
robert.gordon@hertscc.gov.uk

21. ALTERNATIVES
COUNCIL MISMANAGEMENT BETTER CHOICES
• PUBLIC CONSULTATION • HOURS OF PART TIME COULD BE
• BETTER PUBLICITY BETTER
• MORE ENGAGEMENT WITH COMMUNITY • ALTERNATE LIGHTING
• TAKING MORE PROFESSIONAL ADVICE • MORE EFFICIENT LIGHTING – LED
• MORE TRANSPARENCY • WHITE LIGHTING
• TAKING THEIR TIME • LIGHTS ON SENSOR
• DIMMING
• INCREASING COUNCIL TAX BY £9
• NOT CHANGING ANYTHING

22. ALTERNATIVES

23. ALTERNATIVES

24. GOOD FOR STAR GAZERS
BBC 1 Inside Out programme.
The show explored the issues caused which prevent populations from seeing stars.
The Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS), who presented a Good Lighting Award to Indal WRTL for their Midlands M6 Toll
Road lighting scheme, is run by the British Astronomical Association (BAA).
It is manufactured using a large proportion of recycled materials. The low profile aerodynamic housing, for example, is
made from 100% recycled aluminium. Installations of this next generation luminaire across the UK are already
contributing toward high energy saving for local authorities and reducing CO2 emissions by up to 68% compared to
traditional solutions. This ensures they are on track to exceed UK government CO2 reduction targets for 2035 well
ahead of schedule.
On average, Stela installations are saving 109 megawatt hours of energy and 58.5 tonnes of CO2 per month. As the
average household consumes a little over 3 megawatt hours of energy per annum, each month these installations are
currently saving enough electricity to power 31 homes for a whole year and more are being installed every day.
Life cycle assessments of carbon emissions estimate significant further savings in CO2 due to the virtually maintenance
free performance of Stela. These savings come from a reduction in the fuel consumption of maintenance vehicles and
through eliminating the need for replacements lamps and control gear.

25. BEFORE

26. AFTER

27. POOR DECISION

28. COMPETENT ADVICE
Research in Europe has shown that through the use of competent
professional lighting designers/ engineers the energy-efficiency of a
lighting installation can be improved by up to 30%.
It is therefore imperative that any authority employs a competent
lighting professional to manage its lighting asset and get the most
from it.
Too often we have seen the authority’s lighting role being passed to
a highway manager, with little, if any, knowledge of lighting. As
part of EU energy reduction measures, it is likely that the
requirement for competent professional design expertise will Councillor Stuart Pile, the
become an EU legal requirement within the next few years, county council's executive
member for highways and
transport

29. PROFESSIONAL ADVICE
Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP) Recommendations
• Switching off street lights, in all but a limited number of locations (see below) is a short-
sighted, socially corrosive and ultimately uneconomic course of action.
• Authorities should ask, are we over-lighting the streets? And could we drop a lighting class?
• Authorities could change to ‘white light’ – BS5489 allows a drop of one lighting S class by
using white light.
• Authorities should embrace new technology: electronic control gear replacing old magnetic
gear can immediately save 10% of energy; and LED street lights are increasingly able to
illuminate streets with less power - and their price is falling.
• Authorities should dim their lighting, using CMS or pre-set electronic gear:
• In Residential Areas - consult with residents and other stake-holders, but consider dimming
to 50% light output from 8.00pm, and consider dropping to 20% if possible between midnight
and 5.00am. When dimming to low levels also consider the use of local presence detectors to
raise levels if pedestrians are around.
Source: Nigel Parry on 01788 576492 or nigel@theilp.org.uk

30. OUR CAMPAIGN

31. COVERAGE

32. STATUS
• BOREHAMWOOD TIMES
• LBC
`
• HERTSMERE BOROUGH COUNCIL
• HERTS CC
• STEVENAGE BOROUGH COUNCIL
• NORTHAMPTON COUNCILLOR
• STELLA CREASY MP

33. NORWICH CASE STUDY
• Then John stood up. “This cut is a curfew for me”, he said. John is partially sighted
and would be forced to never leave his home at night. Silence followed in the
crowd, the results of this cut now fully realised and the dire need for people to
fight them understood.
• With the press in attendance, David Miliband spoke in support of our campaign
and asked us to light up Norwich – at that point, my search for street lighting was
worth every minute as we lit up the entire street and Marion Maxwell and her
small team got a louder round of applause than I ever imagined 100 people could
give.
• The streets will no longer be dark as a result of this action. Marion succeeded in
forcing the Tory council to postpone the switching off of the lights and open public
consultations, essentially winning not only the battle but this war as well.
• Marion also stood in a by-election for a completely unwinnable seat shortly after
this. She and her newly recruited team of 15 volunteers worked tirelessly and, as a
result, Marion lost the seat by just 100 votes. She is looking forward to May next
year.
www.jamesabolton.com

34. ACTIONS
• PETITION / COUNCIL MEETING
LOCAL COUNCILLORS
• SOCIAL MEDIA – FB &
#STREETLIGHTS
• MEDIA COVERAGE
• EXPERTISE – LEGAL, H&S,
LIGHTING
• FLYERS
• COORDINATION – LETTERS, EMAILS
• TELL & KNOCK

35. FINALLY....
LIBERAL SYNAGOGUE, ELSTREE
FACEBOOK GROUP CONTRIBUTORS

36. DANIEL GRAHAM
E: daniel@centreradio.co.uk
M: 07768 22 22 80
Twitter: @danielgraham
FB: http://facebook.com/danielg99