Opposition Calls for Rethink on Streetlighting Cuts

Petition asks Hounslow Council to abandon plan to dim brightness

Hounslow Council is hoping to save £200,000. Picture: Chiswick Conservatives

January 31, 2025

The Conservative opposition on Hounslow Council is calling for a rethink of proposed changes to the borough’s streetlighting arrangements.

As part of a package of proposals to cut the budget deficit by £12million, a report has recommended that dimming streetlights could save £200,000.

The Conservatives say that the brightness of streetlights in the borough has already been dimmed by 40% since 2018.

Opposition councillors cite recent Streetsafe data, collected by the Metropolitan Police, which shows better streetlighting is consistently ranked as one of the top requests from residents in Hounslow when asked about how to make their community feel safer. They say they have repeatedly raised the issues of perception of safety, and in particular women's safety, with regard to poor streetlighting.

In addition to the risk of crime, the councillors have raised issues of safety resulting from poorly lit streets, including slips and falls caused by uneven pavements and wet leaves, as well as poor visibility for cyclists using dimly lit streets.

Cllr Ron Mushiso, who represents Chiswick Gunnersbury ward, has started a petition, which at the time of writing, had over 300 signatures, having been set up only a week ago.

It states that signatories “believe that good lighting and visibility in our local area are crucial to making our streets safer” and that “as council taxpayers, we (signatories) want to ensure our money is being spent on improving our local areas and ask the council to reconsider its proposed cuts to street lighting.”

Cllr Mushiso added, “One of the core responsibilities of any local authority is to keep residents safe, and we know that good levels of streetlighting is crucial to achieving this. The council is scrambling to find money to bailout its mismanagement of the Lampton Group, a council owned business which made a loss of over £11 million last year. I firmly believe residents shouldn’t have to pay for this mismanagement by living in a less safe, poorly lit borough, and hope the strength of feeling from this petition makes the council reconsider.”

In a recent Scrutiny Committee meeting, Council leader Shantanu Rajawat confirmed that the planned cuts were for “efficiency savings” throughout the borough’s network of streetlights. He told the meeting that conversations with the police as to how the savings would be achieved safely were continuing.

The petition, which remains open to signatories and will be presented at the borough’s budget setting meeting later in February, can be found here.

Cllr Shivraj Grewal, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Recycling and Transformation at Hounslow Council, said, “This proposed saving is part of a broader review of how we can efficiently manage our lighting across Hounslow. We will carefully consider all options and any proposal will be subject to consultation from our key stakeholders who will be able to give us an idea of the most likely impact such a decision would have.”