Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Elliot Prentice.

The Chair invited those who wished to do so to declare interests in respect of items on the agenda.

No declarations were made.

RESOLVED that:

The minutes of the meeting held on 17^th November 2021 were approved as a correct record.

The Panel considered a presentation by the Assistant Director of Highways and Waste on PFI Streetlights in North Northamptonshire, which provided an overview of proposed LED street lighting and alternative lighting solutions.

During discussion the principal points were noted :-

·         The Panel questioned whether the lights referenced in the presentation were primarily relating to highways or streets.

·         The Panel raised safety concerns regarding the lack of street lighting in certain areas and correlation to crime figures. Members expressed a desire to see greater interaction between the general public and the local authority, in response to these concerns of safety.

·         The Panel questioned whether the proposed LED lights would provide spot lighting or flood lighting across wider areas.

In response, the Assistant Director of Highways and Waste clarified that:-

·         The lights referenced in the report were all those not including ones which were used by the sovereign authorities, to light areas such as parks and rear alleys to private properties. The PFI related to 20,000 lights across North Northamptonshire and 10,000 signs and bollards.

·         While the authority had acknowledged issues of low lighting and safety concerns, there were no proposals to increase lighting. Nevertheless, the authority had continued to liaise with the police on this issue and had undertaken large public consultation exercises, answering four thousand complaints regarding lighting which had been turned off. As a result of this consultation, the authority had turned approximately 1,000 lights back on.

·         From Police data, there seemed to be little correlation between crime figures and low levels of lighting. Although, there had certainly been an impact on road safety.

·         Streetlights were set to a ‘P6 lighting standard’ under the appropriate British standard; although they were slightly brighter around roundabout conflict points and town centres.

·         An interactive map was available on the Council’s website, which provided data on all street lights under the Highways authority.

·         The new LED lights were tall and covered a wide area but primarily focused on highway areas, such as the meeting point between roads and footpaths.

RESOLVED that:

The report be noted.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Climate Change, Environment and Growth Executive Advisory Panel would be held virtually, via Zoom, on Wednesday 19^th January at 09:30am.