OPPOSITION councillors, including the county councillor for the Sandy Hill estate, have welcomed Surrey County Council’s “partial u-turn” on cost-cutting plans to switch off streetlights overnight.

Surrey’s unpopular street lighting policy, which was introduced in 2016 and early 2017, saw thousands of street lights turned off across the county between midnight and 5am without any consultation with the residents affected.

The change of policy, which comes as a result of Surrey exceeding its savings target, means that lights will now stay on until 1am.

It follows widespread condemnation by opposition county councillors, residents and night-shift workers, amid fears that the overnight blackout increases the risk of crime and endangers safety.

Night time crime has increased by 40 per cent in some boroughs of Surrey after the lights were switched off, and almost 4,400 people signed a petition last year calling on Surrey “to reconsider its ill-conceived plans”.

Announcing the policy change, Surrey’s cabinet member for highways Colin Kemp said: “In recognition of concerns raised by residents, particularly shift workers and those who work in the hospitality industry, we have decided to keep the street lights on across every borough and district in Surrey for an hour longer.

“Having listened to people’s feedback, from Thursday, November 23, street lights in residential areas will stay on until 1am to make it easier for them to get home.

“We are able to do this because the savings from turning off the lights in the early hours of the morning are likely to be higher than anticipated. We have decided to reinvest this back into our communities.”

Stephen Spence, the county councillor for Farnham North, has long-campaigned for the lights to be switched back on in the Sandy Hill estate and welcomed Surrey’s concession, commenting “every little helps”.

He told The Herald: “I think it’s fair to say that residents here and in other parts of Surrey remain very unhappy with the decision, and Sandy Hill residents share the same concerns as everyone else, that crime may increase, and also how can emergency services find their way quickly to people’s houses in the dark?

“It has also been alleged that a car came off Sandy Hill Road after failing to spot a bend in the dark, and people have apparently fallen down the steps in the estate, including an old lady who was very badly bruised.

“The view in Sandy Hill is we pay our council tax, we live in an urbanised area in a civilised society, and what local councils do is at night they provide street lighting. That’s part of the deal.”

Barry Cole, a Sandy Hill resident, added: “It’s a nightmare trying to get about on the estate, especially going down the alley ways and steps that don’t have lights, also car park areas.

“I have asked councillors John Fury [Surrey’s deputy leader], Colin Kemp also Andy Royce the lighting manager. But they are not interested. They say that all they are interested in is saving money.

“No notices were ever given to residents in the areas to be blacked out prior to the blackouts. The agreed policy was to turn some of lights off for some of the time. We got all of the lights all of the time without any discussion with the people that live here.”

Stephen Cooksey, Lib Dem spokesman on highways and environment. said: “The Conservative policy on street lighting in Surrey has been badly thought through, poorly implemented and is inconsistent.

“While I welcome this small change in policy, this whole mess could have been avoided if they had consulted with residents before the changes were made and in an open and transparent fashion, so that amendments to the proposals suggested by residents could have been taken on board.”