The Labour group on Tendring District Council has tabled a motion for the next meeting of TDC under which TDC would pay the cost of having the Tendring District’s street lights on all night until the Tories running Essex County Council can be persuaded to reverse their unpopular and dangerous ‘Part Night Street Lighting’ policy.
The motion, tabled in the name of the leader of the Labour Group, Cllr Ivan Henderson, reads
This council seeks to reverse the impact of Essex County Council’s Part Night Street Lighting policy within the Tendring District by paying to Essex County Council the sum of £127,000 per annum (identified by Essex County Council as the amount saved by the night time switch off of the district’s lights) to enable the Tendring District’s street lights to remain on all night.
The amount to be spent is to be taken from council reserves to meet the remainder of the 2014-2015 financial year and then to be funded either through the council tax, the use of council reserves or a combination of both, the funding of Tendring’s street lights throughout the night to be met by this council only until Essex County Council is persuaded to reverse its unpopular and dangerous policy.
Essex County Council’s own figures state that the measure, if funded by the council tax, would only cost residents of Tendring 4p per week per household and, whilst the Labour Group remains angry that local people would have to pay again for something that Essex County Council is already charging them, believes that accidents and rising crime figures show that action has to be taken to get the lights back on as quickly as possible.
Leader of the Labour Group on TDC, Cllr Ivan Henderson, says, “The Tories at County Hall are still refusing to reverse this dreadful policy in spite of the harm it is doing. We do not believe that local residents should go through the winter with the lights out at night and this is a way of switching them back on at a cost of only 4p per household per week. It’s wrong that people will have to pay twice but their safety and peace of mind is too important not to take immediate action.”
The Labour Group on Harlow District Council has tabled a similar motion and has the support of the Conservative Group on its council and the Labour Group on TDC expects the Tendring Tories to put political differences aside and to support Labour’s motion in the best interest of local residents.
“We must keep the pressure on the Tories running Essex County Council to reverse the policy but until they do I expect all TDC councillors to support our motion and get our lights switched back on,” continued Ivan Henderson. “This is achievable and affordable and, while it shouldn’t be necessary, we cannot let this situation continue.”
For further information please contact
Ivan Henderson on 07889 367822