Concern is growing over the poor quality of new street lighting in North Edinburgh. New ‘green’ low-energy lights have been installed over the weekend but residents say the lights are too dim and will encourage more crime and antisocial behaviour.
The energy-efficient LED bulbs are expected to save nearly 40 per cent on the £3m spent lighting the city each year, but for some residents in North Edinburgh the lights just aren’t bright enough. They say that the dark streets will encourage more crime – in an area that has been blighted by crime and antisocial behaviour over recent months.
Local resident Lorraine McTigue said: “These lights were installed yesterday in my street, I thought there had been a blackout; the place is almost pitch black other than house lights now … terrible.”
Another said: “This is crazy. When there is already a huge problem with kids running wild and vandalism nearly every night, why reduce the power of the street lights? Is this all about the council saving money? Well, they might save on the lighting bill but they’ll be paying out a lot more to repair damage caused by vandalism. They just don’t care about the people who live here who will be frightened to go out at night, and it will be us who will have to find the money to get our vandalised cars repaired. Things are bad enough as it is, but this will make things even worse down here.”
Will the council see the light? We’ll keep you posted …
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