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February 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Switch-off comes despite fears of extra crime
By
David Derbyshire
Last updated at 11:11 PM on 5th February 2012
The big switch-off: Councils across England and Wales are plunging streets into darkness despite fears of increased accidents and crime
Town halls are switching off half a million street lights to save money despite fears of increased crime and accidents, a Daily Mail investigation has found.
The majority of county councils in England and Wales are plunging some residential and rural roads into darkness between midnight and dawn.
Where lights are being left on after midnight, some councils are fitting them with dimmers to reduce electricity consumption.
The Mail first highlighted concerns about Blackout Britain in 2007. Since then, the number of local authorities cutting back has soared.
Of 27 English county councils, 21 have now switched off some street lights after midnight or turned some off altogether.
Earlier this month, Derbyshire County Council unveiled plans to turn off 40,000 rural street lamps between midnight and 5.30am. The council claims the move will save £400,000 a year.
Up to 80 per cent of Hertfordshire’s 115,000 lights will go out after midnight in the next few years to save £1.3million a year.
Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire plans to turn off 2,000 lights, Essex has turned off 91,000 lights while Kent wants to turn off 70,000 for part of the night – and remove 5,000 lights completely.
In Dorset, blackouts are being imposed between midnight and 5.30am. The lights will come on again in the morning if it is still dark. The Tory-run council claims the move will cut £187,000 from its annual lighting bill.
Dingy: Where lights do get left on, some councils are using dimmers to reduce electricity consumption
Around half the councils in Wales have introduced some cutbacks. Carmarthenshire and Caerphilly councils are each turning off 5,000 street lamps after midnight.
When the lights began to go out most authorities said they were trying to cut energy and carbon emissions. Now most blame the squeeze on town hall budgets.
Converting lights so that they can be dimmed or switched off at varying times is not cheap. Hertfordshire is spending £4.5million on changing its lights – and won’t see any savings for four years.
Pugh’s take on Blackout Britain
The decision to plunge hundreds of thousands of streets into darkness has angered many locals.
Daniel Graham began a Facebook campaign after the lights in his village of Radlett in Hertfordshire were turned off.
‘Light is one of those services that shouldn’t be compromised,’ said Mr Graham, 39, a father of two who runs a marketing agency.
‘Turning off the lights increases fear of crime and it increases crime. People feel imprisoned in their own homes because they don’t feel safe to go out.’
Sue Harris, 44, believes the after-midnight blackout imposed on Maldon, Essex, has made the streets near her home more dangerous.
‘We pay our taxes and surely it is our right to have lighting at night to keep us safe,’ she said.
Hertfordshire County Council said lights were being left on at busy junctions, town centres and near rail and bus stations.
‘Most people are in bed asleep between midnight and 6am,’ said a spokesman.
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This government is literally taking us back to the dark ages – Mike Barnes, UK. THIS GOVERNMENT? It was the last one in power for 13 YEARS which created the situation we now have. Do you have a magic wand to sort it all out? Without one there have to be more BIG reductions in the money we as a nation spend.
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Oh for goodness sake, the wimps are at it again. We never had street lights on after midnight in the 60s and before that I don’t think we had them at all. If crime increased we didn’t notice because we dealt with the criminals!
– Jen, Yorkshire, 6/2/2012 8:27====We did have street lamps before the 1960s – many were gas lamps. I remember (just) the lamplighter lighting the gas street lamps. Shortly after the gas lamps were converted to electricity. The reason why there was very little crime back in the 1950s/early 1960s was because we had good deterrents – Borstals, Approved Schools, the Birch and parents instilled discipline and good manners in us. A line was drawn and if we crossed it we got well and truly walloped. Schools had strict discipline and used the cane or belt. Prisons were tough places and the local Bobby would give a yob a clout round the ear or a boot up the backside. Instant justice and it worked. We didn’t need to lock our front doors back then.
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round my way the council etstaes are lite up like blackpool , but roads with private home onwers on them have lights out for months …hmmm the people who PAY the council tax are treated less well then those who dont !! say it isnt so and yet they run a giant screen TV 24/7 at what cost ?
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When I was a child the street lights would go off at midnight on the dot…but then we weren’t expecting ne’er do-wells to be roaming the streets looking for vulnerable people and property. If anyone was walking the streets they would EXPECT a policeman to ask why you were out and about so late – especially in ordinary towns…NOT talking about big cities.
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We can afford to give millions away in international Aid donations but we can not afford to light our own streets, hmmm…….nurse, the screens please I think Im going to throw up.
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Yes please! There are THREE street lights in the tiny cul-de-sac behind my house, serving FOUR people who never go out after dark. Another one directly in front of my house. I have had to put blackout blinds in so I can get a decent night’s sleep and a ceiling fan so I can still get some air. I’m perfectly happy to use a torch if I need to go out after dark (not that I’d need one with all the security lights everyone seems to have these days).
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I hitched hiked every weekend from Slough to North Yorkshire all through that winter of 62/63 and on the Ai the only lights were at a roundabout and there were not that many accidents. Durung the 90’s I drove in the early hours from Teesside to home around 25 miles away and the A66 was lit all the way from Teesside to the start of the Darlington Bypass on which the only lights were at the roundabouts. It is much the same today and is a scandalous waste of resources. Even more in the present financial situation
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I drove to work this morning at 0330 on fully lit roads with virtually no other vehicles, no cyclists, no pedestrians. What a waste of our money!
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Excellent idea. By the way – if you want to spot the burglar – he’s the one with the torch …………. you can’t miss him.
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Hmm Catch 22 this, as the local authorities buy their energy up-front, in bulk, then if they use less then obviously the supplier ups the cost so they don’t actually save. A better way is to replace the existing street lamp lamp and gear (not the column) with an energy saving lamp.
Either that or central government intervention is required to stop the supplier bumping up the costs when they buy less energy in bulk.
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