Would you pay extra to turn the streetlights back on night in Chelmsford?

COMMUNITY groups, businesses and councils could stump up to switch street lights back on at little more than £12 per light by the end of the year.

Essex County Council's part-night lighting task force says the 105,000 lights currently off between midnight and 5am could go back on if there are "third party contributions".

The leader of Chelmsford City Council, Councillor Roy Whitehead, said his authority would consider paying up.

"I made that suggestion about seven or eight months ago as it seemed we might need additional lights, and we were told they would see how the roll-out went," he said.

"We were as an authority prepared to make additional contributions."

The task force's findings go before Essex County Council's Place Service and Economic Growth Scrutiny Committee this morning after a nine-month investigation.

Nine recommendations are expected to be forwarded to highways boss Cllr Rodney Bass, which are mainly concerned with implementing a strategy so paid-for street lights can be turned back on if funded.

An end-of-year deadline for a system for street lights to be switched on at short notice in the event of emergencies has also been requested.

It noted they would have been useful during the bad weather and high tides experienced last November.

Cllr Whitehead added: "We were one of the first to be switched off and it hasn't been a major talking point, but we would seriously consider it."

But he felt that if any lights did go back on, it would largely be from a road safety rather than a crime perspective.

Essex Police have previously said that burglaries did not increase as a result of the switch-off, but national statistics suggest road accidents have increased since the blackout.

Street lights have been switched off between midnight and 5am in the Chelmsford and Braintree districts since September last year, and since 2007 in the Maldon district.

About 105,000 street lights in the county now operate part-night lighting, which County Hall says is saving them roughly £1.3 million a year, equating to a £12.38 saving per street light.

Those street lights exempt largely fall into the categories of those in town centres, accident blackspots and areas police say are prone to crime.

Parish, district and city councils were also able to request certain lights stay on, but Essex County Council had the final say.