“a) That this Council notes that:-
i) the programme of part-night lighting, dimming and the emerging transformation programme utilising new technology could result in savings in excess of £1million and reduce the Council carbon footprint;
ii) the process of part-night lighting and dimming involves a rigorous evaluation of the potential impact such changes would have on affected areas;
iii) responses to date from the emergency services and the County Council’s Accident Investigation and Prevention Unit indicate that part-night lighting and dimming has not led to an increase in crime or road traffic accidents;
iv) analysis conducted by the County Council’s Research and Insight Team comparing reported crimes at parish level in the year leading up to the introduction of part-night lighting with the first year of operation concludes that:
· overall, across all areas affected there were 195 less crimes (10%) between 12.01am and 5.30am in the year following the introduction of part-night lighting;
· for individual parishes, changes varied from an increase of 14 crimes to a decrease of 58 crimes;
· of the 97 areas analysed, 36 saw an increase in crime and 46 saw a reduction in crime and overall, almost half (45) of the areas analysed saw no change, or an increase or decrease by only one crime;
v) the County Council has a good track record of working with the Police and has acted upon concerns raised which resulted in almost 200 lights temporarily returned to all night operation and which will now return to part-night lighting following recent arrests.
b) That accordingly this Council calls upon members of the Opposition to refrain from making unsubstantiated comments and scaremongering on this issue.”
Minutes:
It was
moved by Mr Osborne, and seconded by Mr Orson:-
“a) That this Council notes that:-
i) the programme of part-night lighting,
dimming and the emerging transformation programme utilising new technology
could result in savings in excess of £1million and reduce the Council’s carbon
footprint;
ii) the process of part-night lighting and
dimming involves a rigorous evaluation of the potential impact such changes
would have on affected areas;
iii) responses to date from the emergency
services and the County Council’s Accident Investigation and Prevention Unit
indicate that part-night lighting and dimming has not led to an increase in
crime or road traffic accidents;
iv) analysis conducted by the County
Council’s Research and Insight Team comparing reported crimes at parish level
in the year leading up to the introduction of part-night lighting with the
first year of operation concludes that:
·
overall,
across all areas affected there were 195 less crimes (10%) between 12.01am and
5.30am in the year following the introduction of part-night lighting;
·
for
individual parishes, changes varied from an increase of 14 crimes to a decrease
of 58 crimes;
·
of
the 97 areas analysed, 36 saw an increase in crime and 46 saw a reduction in
crime and overall, almost half (45) of the areas analysed saw no change, or an
increase or decrease by only one crime;
v) the County Council has a good track
record of working with the Police and has acted upon concerns raised which
resulted in almost 200 lights temporarily returned to all night operation and
which will now return to part-night lighting following recent arrests.
b) That
accordingly this Council calls upon members of the Opposition to refrain from
making unsubstantiated comments and scaremongering on this issue.”
An
amendment was moved by Mr Bill and seconded by Mr Kaufman:-
‘That
paragraph (a)i) of the motion be amended to read as follows:-
“i) the
programme of part-night lighting, dimming and the emerging transformation programme
utilising new technology could result in savings in excess of £1 million and
reduce the Council carbon footprint, while keeping lights on during evening
hours.”
That paragraph (b) of the motion be
amended to read as follows:-
“b) That
accordingly this Council calls upon member from all parties to continue working
together in publicly scrutinising and debating the Council plans for street
lighting to ensure that the best possible outcome for Leicestershire’s
residents is reached and to that end set up a scrutiny panel to fully explore
the different possible ways of making these savings, including the
consideration of further LED upgrade projects financed by capital and/or
reserves and under-spends rather than borrowing.” ’
On
the amendment being put and before the vote was taken, five members rose asking
that the vote be recorded. The vote was
recorded as follow:-
For
the Amendment: Mr Bill, Mr Boulter, Mr Bray, Mr
Charlesworth, Mr Galton, Mr Gamble, Dr Hill, Mr Kaufman, Mrs Loydall, Mr
Mullaney, Mr Welsh, Mr Wyatt.
Against
the Amendment: Mr Bentley, Mr Blunt, Mr Coles, Mr Coxon, Mrs
Dickinson, Dr Feltham, Mr Hampson, Mr Hart, Mr Houseman, Mr Jennings, Mr Lewis,
Mr Liquorish, Mr Orson, Mr Osborne, Mr Ould, Mrs Page, Mr Pain, Mr Pearson, Mr
Pendleton, Mrs Posnett, Mrs Radford, Mr Rhodes, Mrs Richards, Mr Rushton, Mr
Shepherd, Mr Snartt, Mr White.
Abstentions: Dr Eynon, Mrs Fox,
Mr Hunt, Mr Miah, Ms Newton, Mr Sharp,
Mr
Sheahan, Mr Spence, Mr Sprason, Miss Worman, Mr Yates.
The
amendment was not carried, 12 members voting for the amendment and 27 against,
with 11 abstentions.
On
the motion being put and before the vote was taken, five members rose asking
that the vote be recorded. The vote was
recorded as follows:
For
the Motion: Mr Bentley, Mr Blunt, Mr Coles, Mr Coxon, Mrs
Dickinson,
Dr
Feltham, Mr Hampson, Mr Hart, Mr Houseman, Mr Jennings, Mr Lewis,
Mr
Liquorish, Mr Orson, Mr Osborne, Mr Ould, Mrs Page, Mr Pain, Mr Pearson, Mr
Pendleton, Mrs Posnett, Mrs Radford, Mr Rhodes, Mrs Richards, Mr Rushton, Mr
Shepherd, Mr Snartt, Mr White.
Against
the Motion: Mr Bill, Mr Boulter, Mr Bray, Mr
Charlesworth, Dr Eynon,
Mrs
Fox, Mr Galton, Mr Gamble, Dr Hill, Mr Hunt, Mr Kaufman, Mrs Loydall, Mr Miah,
Mr Mullaney, Ms Newton, Mr Sharp, Mr Sheahan, Mr Spence, Mr Sprason, Mr Welsh,
Miss Worman, Mr Wyatt, Mr Yates.
The
motion was put and carried, 27 members voting for the motion and 23 against.