Whittlesey resident speaks out over streetlight safety concerns

“We shouldn’t have to be scared of going out,” were the words of a Whittlesey resident who has been left in the dark about streetlights.

Christine Howchin said she and many other residents are fearful of going out at night due to the energy-efficient bulbs that have been placed in streetlights by Cambridgeshire County Council.

She said that Teal Road, where she lives, and other surrounding roads in the town are darker at night because of the bulbs being dimmer.

She now feels scared when going out to walk her dog at night.

Mrs Howchin, who has lived in the town for 19 years, went to Cambridgeshire County Council with her concerns for residents’ safety, but says she was told that street lights are in place for vehicles rather than pedestrians.

A council spokesman confirmed that the LED streetlights emit light directly towards the road and that in residential areas, places such as verges and driveways, which were previously “incidentally lit”, will now likely appear darker.

Mrs Howchin said: “I am nearly 70 years old. I think it is disgusting that the council are not looking after people in the area.

“I can understand about saving money, but it needs to be done safely.

“I think they are going to do this all over Whittlesey. Everybody I spoke to is scared about going out at night. It is going to be terrible.”

Mrs Howchin said the area she lives in is predominantly occupied by elderly people and young families.

She added: “I went for a walk the other day and heard some teenage boy laughing. I couldn’t see them, it was very frightening.”

“We get nothing here. We have no buses either.”

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesman pointed the Citizen towards its website, where it says: “We are committed to making Cambridgeshire a greener place to live and work. Reducing the existing carbon usage of street lights is therefore vital to achieving net zero carbon emissions from our assets by 2030.

“In October 2023, the Highways and Transport Committee approved plans to introduce new low-carbon street lighting across the county. From December 2024, our street lighting contractor Balfour Beatty started work on our countywide street light replacement programme across Cambridgeshire.

“The roll out of newer, more efficient LED street lights is expected to cut energy consumption from street lighting by more than half.

“We will be replacing over 47,000 existing street lights with new LED street lights over two years, so approximately 2,000 street lights will be replaced each month.”

The spokesman added that the LED streetlights have been rigorously tested to ensure they provide a similar level of brightness on the road to that provided by the previous ones.

He added: “‘The LED streetlights emit light in a more concentrated way directly towards the road. This means that in a residential area, whilst the road is lit, other places such as verges and driveways, which were previously incidentally lit by the old streetlights, will now likely appear darker.

“Ensuring that the new streetlights do not significantly illuminate areas beyond the street itself will reduce light pollution and is one way that energy efficiency has been improved.”