Street lighting in Ipswich over the holiday period

As you know over the last few months the lights in Rushmere have been turned off between midnight and 5.30 in the morning. In some parts of the town there has been some concern over this.


The vast majority of the lights in the Ward are owned by the County Council. The Borough and the County are working together over the holiday period to change the lighting system times over this busy period, I thought you would be interested in those changes:



STREET LIGHTING SWITCHING OFF REGIME OVER THE FESTIVE PERIOD.

Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council over that last few months have been introducing an Intelligent Lighting system.
All street lights managed by both Authorities that are six metres in height and below are in the process of being switched off between the hours of midnight and 5:30am. In many areas of Ipswich this system is already up and running.

Both Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council have recognised that there is always and increase in activity over the festive period. With this in mind, street lights in Ipswich will follow the following regime over this period

Friday 23rd December - On all night (from dusk till dawn)
Saturday 24th December - On all night (from dusk till dawn)
Sunday 25th December - On all night (from dusk till dawn)
Monday 26th December to Friday 30th December - street lights will be left on until 1am.
Saturday 31st December - On all night (from dusk till dawn)

Outside of the dates detailed above, the street lights in Ipswich will continue to operate the normal switching off regime

I hope that is of some use to you, it just leaves me to wish you all a 'Happy Christmas'

The lights are going off in Rushmere....

By now many of you would have started to see orange Suffolk County Council signs appear on Rushmere Ward streets, informing you that your street lights will soon be switched off between midnight and 5.30am.

I believe in principle it is a good idea to turn the lights off, not only saving the County money but also helping reduce our carbon footprint. What I have not been happy about is the way the Tory run County have failed to inform residents and not to have in place a procedure that residents can follow if they believe their street should stay lit.

What has even been more disappointing than the failure of the County to inform residents of the switch off is the way certain Ipswich Tory councillors, candidates and activists have attempted to scare residents with talk of muggings and petty crime but then to say the Labour run Ipswich Borough Council are the ones who are turning the lights off!

Thankfully this week at least two senior Tories have been more honest when talking about the proposed light switch off. In his Evening Star column this week, the Tory councillor for Bixley, Kym Stroet was quoted 'Although we (IBC) are responsible for only a small proportion of the street lights, as councillors we need to allay fears of residents'. Former Tory councillor Gavin Maclure even commented on a previous post by me that Ipswich Tories should not be saying it is the Borough turning the lights off.

Hopefully that message will get over to former Tory Candidate James Spencer who believes the streets of Bridge will become more dangerous because of Labour and Kevin Algar who also blogged how it was a Labour plan to turn lights off.

As both these Tory supporting blogs often get their facts wrong it is no surprise they got the 'lights off' facts wrong, but there was little excuse for the Tories in Holywells ward to put out a leaflet that was very unclear on who was behind the plan to turn them off (even if the Tory County councillors from Ipswich voted for the plan).

We will see how the 'switch off' goes, but if any Ipswich resident feels that they need to have their street stay lit up, please contact your Labour councillor and we will take the matter up with the County Council.

My week ahead 14 -20 August 2011

Monday 15 August 2pm - North East Partnership Meeting - Listening to our local SNT Police team, on how they dealt with the events last week.

6pm - Campaigning in Holywells ward, Ipswich - Getting the views of and informing residents about the plan to switch lights off in streets from September

Tuesday 16 August 7.45pm - Football at Portman Road - Someones has to go!

Wednesday 17 August 9am - Planning Committee - Grafton House

Thursday 18 August 11am - Essex cricket at Colchester

Saturday 20 August 10.30am - Campaigning on the doorstep in Ipswich

Last week I spent most days delivering the new Rushmere Rose in Ipswich but also managed to find time to knock on doors in Holywells Ward. Most residents did not seem aware that their street lights will be turned off by the County Council in September. As I have stated before, I agree that it is a good idea to switch off lights between midnight and 5.30am in the morning. what the county should have done is informed residents of the plan with at least an information leaflet. At least they are now putting signs up in the streets in the weeks before the lights are switched off. Hopefully with the Suffolk County Council logo on the notice, it will stop the Tory supporting blogs telling all who will listen that it is the Borough Council who are behind the light switch off.

I also attended a meeting about the plan for the building of the new Ipswich Academy with Labour councillors from South East Ipswich, it will create a fantastic environment for learning, even if the budget is almost half of what was initially promised in the 'Building Schools for the Future' scheme.

Needs to check his facts- again!

The Tory supporting blog - 'A Riverside View' seems to have decided that when it comes to blogging - it's quantity not quality that counts. The loser in all this? The true facts!

I and others seemed to spend most of our time commenting on his posts, not just trying to put the Labour view across but also just to inform Kevin that he had got his facts wrong. But once it was obvious he had lost the argument he would just revert to abuse. I have decided just not to bother with commenting on his blog anymore, so what does he do? He now actually has a post named 'The Stupid things Alasdair Ross has said this week'

Now again, some would say best just to ignore him but the trouble is, Ipswich residents may come across his blog and believe his posts are factual, (I am not on about the posts about me - they are just make me laugh)but the posts on serious matters - Ipswich Mosques, Street Lights are just two posts recently that are full of misleading statements and seem based more on rumours that the truth.

We have his usual practice of copying his mentor at 'Bridge Ward News' so going from saying how good the Sky Ride was, he then joins Mr Spencer in criticising the date of the event. Now, sorry to disappoint you Kevin, it takes more than a few weeks to plan the Sky Ride. Now I would like to take the credit for the event but it was planned under the Tory administration. We will try and improve the event in the future and more notice of the road closures is one improvement we aim to pursue next year. We are now aware that certain dates are better than other but if you want to moan about why that date was chosen- speak to your own Tory Cllrs. They chose the date.

Then we come to the post where he really is trying to fool the Ipswich public. The plan to switch off some of the street lights in the town between midnight and dawn. Kevin seems to think it is up to us the Labour administration - wrong.
There are over 16.000 street lights in Ipswich and over 15,000 are owned by the Tory County Council. Last October the Tory Cabinet decided to implement a plan to turn off lights. the scheme will start in Ipswich then spread out all over Suffolk. Now Ipswich Borough Council do manage the lights for Suffolk County Council but we have no say about when they turn the lights off (or on).

Now I actually think the dimming of some lights or turning certain streets off is a good idea - as long as local residents can make their views known. Ipswich Borough council will now decide later this month what they will do with the 790 lights we own.

The good thing is that the system that is being used will enable changes to be made with a flick of a switch. If residents are concerned about the lighting in their roads, get in touch and we will chase it up with the County Council.

UPDATE

Today Kevin has accused me of lying about the County planning to turn the street lights off last October:

Maybe this extract from the County Papers last October may make him even admit he is wrong! Don't hold your breath.

Meeting Date: 12 October 2010Lead Councillor/s: Councillor Guy McGregor, Portfolio Holder for Roads, Transport
and Planning
STREET LIGHTING - POLICY PROPOSALS ON PART-NIGHT LIGHTING AND
DIMMING
WHO WILL BE AFFECTED BY THIS DECISION?
2. All Suffolk residents and visitors.
WHAT ARE THE KEY ISSUES TO CONSIDER?
3. The key issues to consider are:
a) the relationship to the ‘Greenest County’ aspirations. By 2025 Suffolk
aims to achieve a 60% reduction in CO2. The Intelligent Lighting
System Project has the potential to deliver significant street lighting
energy savings and a CO2 reduction of 4,150 tonnes by April 2013,
WHAT IS THE CABINET BEING ASKED TO DECIDE?
1. The Cabinet is being asked to:
a) adopt the policy as detailed in Appendix A of this report for the
implementation of part-night lighting and dimming delivered through the
application of an Intelligent Lighting System;