Chatteris councillors believe lights change a dim move by Cambridgeshire County Council

Complaints over new street lights being installed across the county were discussed by councillors on Tuesday night, amid concerns about health and safety and also security for residents.

Cambridgeshire County Council is in the process of upgrading the street lights it operates across the county to LED bulbs, but the move has already proved controversial with complaints from towns and villages.

Tuesday’s meeting of Chatteris Town Council saw members raise the issue with members saying where the lights have already been changed, there have been complaints about the lack of light given off by the new bulbs.

Manea Cllr Charlie Marks, who is also the county councillor, who was at the meeting, has been trying to get answers over the decision from Cambridgeshire County Council since changes were made to the village lights.

He said the county was looking to change 7,500 lights, so was unlikely to listen to complaints from Manea and Chatteris.

A Freedom of Information request he sent to the county council showed it was costing around £250 per unit to upgrade.

He said one of the main issues was the splay from the new bulbs was not as wide as the old ones meaning they were okay when standing beneath them, but move just a few steps and it was darkness.

Mayor Cllr Anne Hay said she had tried to raise the issue at the recent Cambridgeshire highways and infrastructure meeting, but had been “slapped down” by the chair, who said it was not relevant to the matter being discussed.

She said the problem now is there will be not further meetings before the local elections in May.

Cllr Ian Benney said: “I suspect that once they have changed them, they are not going to change them again.”

He said there had been no consultation before the decision was made to make the change.

Councillors also questioned exactly where the new lights had been tested, suggesting it was not in rural areas like ours.

However, Cllr Victor Joyce said that he had heard mixed reviews with one or two people saying they felt they were better.

Cllr Marks also warned his Chatteris colleagues to keep an eye on any changes as Manea had lost one or two lights in the change over.

He said: “The county council says it is not removing any lights as a result of the change over, but we have definitely lost a couple in Manea, and it’s likely to happen in Chatteris if you don’t keep an eye on it.”