The ruling Conservative group on Herts County Council are making no changes to the controversial and highly unpopular turning off of most street lights at night. The agenda for this Thursday’s meeting of the Highways and Waste panel recommends no changes apart from defining what is a light away from a road.

Malcolm Cowan, vice-chair of the Overview and Scrutiny committee said ‘We have an all-day scrutiny of Part Night Lighting, as the Tories call it, coming up on 1 October, yet weeks before the scrutiny starts, we receive the verdict ‘no change’.  It really is contemptuous of those taking part.’

The report to Highways and Waste panel even claims that putting the lights back on would not reduce fear of crime, despite acknowledging that turning them off did increase fear of crime.

‘It is not just crime, it is the appalling state of many roads and footpaths that makes walking or cycling in the dark so dangerous’ said Lib Dem leader Stephen Giles-Medhurst.