Coventry street lights to be dimmed in test

Coventry City Council is to begin reviewing its street lights to see if any of them can be dimmed in a bid to save money.

Councillors will meet with police and neighbourhood groups in Holbrooks at 22:00 BST to see what effect turning down lights will have.

Councillor Rachel Lancaster said they were just "fact finding" at this stage.

The authority is working in partnership with Balfour Beatty to install over 28,000 new lights across the city.

All of the lampposts are expected to be installed by 2015 as part of the PFI scheme that began three years ago.

Ms Lancaster, the cabinet member for public services, said the meeting on Wheelwright Lane and Briscoe Road was part of a consultation on the lights that are controlled remotely.

The Labour councillor said: "No decisions have been made about whether we're going to turn them down.

"We can do it by percentages and have a look at what impact that has on the areas.

"Different roads have different classifications. Depending on how much traffic, the time of day and the usage of the road would be how much we turn it down.

"This is something that can be done and very easily reversed if it doesn't work because we can effectively talk to each lamppost.

"It's a really flexible way of looking at lighting within the city.

"It saves money, it'll lengthen the life of the bulb in the lights so there's less maintenance.

"We're just at the stage where we're fact finding."