The Liberal Democrat Leader of the Official Opposition at County Hall has today slammed the Conservative administration for repeatedly misleading the public over consultation on the lights switch off, and ignoring residents concerns.
It was revealed at the Environment, Development & Transport Scrutiny Committee that there had been “in excess of 10,000 enquiries” over the street light switch off, resulting in 3,600 reviews. Only a quarter of those reviews resulted in any change to the policy, meaning that of the original 10,000 enquiries, only 9% led to a change.
On questions of consultation the Conservative-led Council has repeatedly stated that the switch-off was publicly consulted on as part of the budget process last year. However, the cut to streetlighting consulted on during the budget process was for £1m only, and covered predominantly non-residential areas. The second £1m cut was put forward to fill the £15m budget gap on the day that the consultation and scrutiny processes closed. The further £1m cut led to the streetlights in residential areas being switched off.
Cllr Glynane said “Residents across the County have been plunged into darkness by Northamptonshire Conservatives. People are worried and concerned about how it effects their daily lives, and vulnerable people in our County.”
“It is extremely misleading of the Conservatives to pretend that they consulted on the streetlight switch off in residential areas through the budget last year. This cut came about to fill their £15m black hole – nobody asked the public about switching off half of the streetlights in the towns and outside homes and businesses. By repeatedly claiming this, even though it is clearly not the case, the Conservatives are continuing to mislead the public over the switch off.”
“To make matters worse it has now been revealed that a massive 10,000 enquiries have been received – and this doesn’t include everyone who signed a petition. The Conservative-led Council is treating petitions with hundreds of signatures as one enquiry! Of those 10,000 enquiries, only 9% have led to lights being switched back on. This is a disgrace.”
“Local people are being misled and ignored by the Conservatives. The Conservatives should have the guts to face up to local people and apologise for their disastrous policy. Then they should switch the lights in residential areas back on.”
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