PARWICH.ORG

Although the Council have already consulted on the general issue, we felt our readers might like to have a say on whether ‘part night lighing’ in general is a good idea:

Parwich households should have received a letter today telling them that Derbyshire County Council is now consulting on turning some Parwich street lights off for part of the night. (Click here for the consultation timetables for Derbyshire communities.)

Our street lighting is provided by the County Council through their Highways service. They have no statutory obligation to light the streets, though they do have a duty to ensure the safety of the highways.

After an initial general consultation (with some 60% in favour), Derbyshire County Council have decided to go ahead with ‘Part Night Lighting’, that is switching off some street lights between midnight and 5-30am, reducing the energy bill by some £400,000 a year.

It is a controversial issue with a range of views, as illustrated by the responses to our previous post; many feel strongly about light pollution and energy saving, while others feel equally strongly about road safety and theft prevention.

The County Council are now consulting on which lights should be switched off for part of the night in Parwich. In the Village they are proposing to turn 2 lights off altogether, to keep 17 on all night and turn 14 off for part of the night.

The specific Parwich proposals can be seen on the County Council Website by clicking here, on the notice board in the Sycamore Inn or by clicking the image below (note, not all the lights are in the exact position shown on the plan):

You can have your say by  contacting:

• Derbyshire County Council directly by Tuesday 2nd April 2013 on their consultation page  or by post to Street Lights, Derbyshire County Council, County Hall, Matlock, DE4 3AG
• Parwich Parish Council prior to their next meeting on Wednesday 20th March 2013, by speaking to a councillor or emailing the Clerk on sandra.hampson@hotmail.co.uk.
• PARWICH.ORG by commenting on any of the relevant posts or completing the polls in this and the post ‘Part Night Street Lighting in Parwich- Have your say‘. We will then forward poll results and any comments to the County Council prior to the close of the Parwich consultation on the 2nd April.

We at PARWICH.ORG feel there are some potential inconsistencies in the Parwich proposals (for example 3 lights are to remain on all night in Creamery Lane, but none in Smithy Lane). Consequently we will follow up this with another post allowing people to respond on a street light by street light basis.