DIMMER SWITCH PLAN FOR STREET LIGHTS.

Byline: David James 

A SOUTH Wales council is preparing a funding bid for hi-tech new street lights that can be dimmed at night.

Cardiff council hopes the new system could slash the council's energy bills without repeating problems seen in other Welsh authorities, where town halls have turned off road lighting at night.

Officials have travelled to Cornwall to inspect new technology that allows lights to be centrally controlled and dimmed by different amounts in different areas.

Areas with crime or anti-social behaviour problems could be kept brighter until later at night than quieter areas, where lights could be dimmed during the early hours.

Some systems also include light sensors that adjust the street lamp's brightness depending on the time of day.

Cardiff council's transport executive member, Councillor Delme Bowen, said the energy-efficient system could cut the city's carbon footprint and shave up to pounds 1m from the city's street-lighting budget in a year.

He said the council still had to resolve the project's funding, consult with residents and have the plans approved by the Assembly. But he said that it could be brought in as early as next year.

Coun Bowen said: "It is a very exciting project.

"Community involvement and consultation with residents is crucial to whether lights in that community will be dimmed .

"Someareaswhere there's more of a criminal undercurrent need the reassurance of street lights while in other areas, some people very often don't want lights tobetoo bright outside their bedrooms.

"We would not go down the line of switching off lights permanently. This would be quite a high investment in infrastructure but it would give us a flexible response to the needs of communities."

Cardiff council is one of many in Wales which have admitted to facing a budget shortfall next year because of rising costs and Westminster efficiency savings.

It is planning to make pounds 21m of savings next year.

Many councils are considering turning off street lights at night to ease the pressure on stretched budgets and deal with volatile energy costs but the plans have provoked controversy.

Powys council has switched many of its street lights to part-time working after an initial complete turn off of two-thirds of its lamps provoked complaints from residents and dog walkers.

Dimmer switch systems, as being considered in Cardiff, are already being trialled in Cornwall and cities across Europe and Asia, including Beijing.

A spokesman for Cardiff council said: "Cardiff is looking at new technologies to improve the management of street lighting, over a long-term contract. The proposal will save money in the long term and will significantly reduce CO2 emissions. This project is at an early stage as funding will need to be approved, proposals will need to go through scrutiny and the public will need to be consulted."

CARDIFF KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON THE STREET LIGHTS OF CORNWALL IN Torpoint, a small town on the south-east coast of Cornwall, the introduction of centrally -controlled dimmer street lighting has so far been a success. Town councillor Brian Hobbs said the new lights had barely been remarked upon by his residents.

"I've had nobody complaining to me. You can tell they are new lights because they've got a little aerial on the top which they control them with."

Over the past three months, Cornwall County Council has installed 2,500 of the centrally controlled lights in three towns, Torpoint, Helston and Porthleven. Over the next three years, it plans to replace all the county's 47,000 lights under its invest to save programme and hopes to save 60 per cent of its street-lighting bill. However the biggest test for Cornwall's new system is now starting as the nights draw in.

It will be watched closely in Cardiff .

Council may focus bright lights on crime spots