The Oxfordshire street lighting plan may not apply to the entire county

Thousands of people signed petitions against the shutdown plan before Wednesday’s announcement

Getty Images A general image of a street lamp with trees surrounding it and the moon shining in the sky above — Thousands of people signed petitions against the shutdown plan before Wednesday’s announcement

A plan to switch off street lights across Oxfordshire could be set on a ‘settlement by settlement’ basis rather than a blanket policy for the county.

The provincial government tried to turn off most of its 60,000 lights between sunset and 11 p.m. and sunrise and 6:30 a.m.

Was a framework due to signing off on Thursday, but the decision was postponed on Wednesday after thousands of people signed petitions to oppose it.

Council vice-chairman Pete Sudbury said the needs of communities would be taken into account and said discussions about possible cost savings were a diversion.

“It is not good for human health to have lights on all the time. It is much better if it is very dark when you sleep, and that is very bad for wildlife, especially insects,” he told BBC Radio Oxford.

“We have to make sure the lights are off when there are no people around. And that, it seems to me, must be done almost settlement by settlement.

“About a third of the letters I’ve had or emails I’ve had have been in favor of turning off the lights, while two-thirds are against… It has to be done right.”

As part of the plan, most lights in Wantage and the wider Oxfordshire area could be switched off at night

Getty Images/Paul Brown A bird's eye view of Wantage at dusk, with street lamps illuminating many streets — As part of the plan, most lights in Wantage and the wider Oxfordshire area could be switched off at night

Under plans outlined by the council, lights that illuminate alleys and paths away from roads, subways and where they are used to display road furniture such as speed bumps would be left on at night.

Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber said last week he had concerns about the plan.

On Wednesday, he said a petition he set up to oppose it had been signed 1,000 times.

Dr. Sudbury said council should re-examine its work with police.

He said: “Our officers worked with the police and we thought we had reached an agreement on how it would work and that’s why we need to go back and work with them.

“We also need to work with women’s groups and groups concerned about crime and make it work.

“Each community can have very different times when things work. It depends on when the last bus leaves or when the pub closes, things like that.”