Part-night street lighting

Part-night lighting is the term we use for a light that switches off for part of the night.

Coventry City Council is implementing part-night lighting citywide from May 2024. Part-night lighting is being implemented to reduce the street lighting electricity budget by £700,000 per annum so that this funding could be used to protect other vital services.

*The lights will not switch on for these periods during the Summer months as it is already daylight.)

Do all streetlights operate part-night?

Approximately 30% of streetlights will operate all-night, and approximately 70% operate part-night.

All council-operated PFI streetlights are subject to part-night lighting except for certain types of location where they are exempt from part-night lighting and operate all-night.

These locations are:

• Ring Road and City Centre
• District Centres
• Canal
• Where there are potential hazards on the highway such as roundabouts, traffic signal-controlled junctions, central carriageway islands, low bridge structures, traffic calming features, road humps outside 20mph zones etc.
• At formal pedestrian crossings (Zebra, Pelican, Puffin, Toucan and Pegasus).
• Areas covered by permanent Local Authority/Police CCTV cameras.
• Areas adjacent to elderly people care homes, sheltered accommodation complexes and A&E departments.
• Lighting adjacent to operational taxi ranks.
• Lighting on public footpaths, alleyways and cycle paths which are located away from roads.

Can the Council legally turn off the lights?

Yes. There is no statutory requirement on Local Authorities in the UK to light the highway. The law states that:

• The Highways Act empowers local authorities to light roads but does not place a duty to do so.
• The Council has a duty of care to road users and has an obligation to light permanent obstructions on the highway, such as speed humps and central refuges.