County Council Challenged On Street Lights for Uttlesford

10.10.00pm GMT Tue 6th Mar 2007

Liberal Democrat councillors are campaigning against Conservative plans to turn off Uttlesford's street lights after midnight.

Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council and Uttlesford District Council's South West Area Panel have mounted a joint, last chance bid to halt Essex County Council's street light switch-off in Stansted as well as other parts of Uttlesford.

The two authorities have issued a blistering four-pronged attack on the County Council for what the local councils describe as:

· a flawed methodology used to establish the pilot areas and the future monitoring and evaluation of the scheme;

· lack of a consistent framework for consultation which has resulted in discriminatory decisions that will bias the results of any "pilots" and ignore results of public consultation undertaken by Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council;

· decisions based on incomplete community safety and crime data in Stansted Mountfitchet.

County Council papers upon which the decision is based containing inaccurate statements of fact and that are silent about the attitude of Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council and Stansted residents towards the proposal.

Councillor Alan Dean, District Councillor for Stansted South, said: 'It feels like we have been ignored in Stansted and Uttlesford as a whole for far too long by the Highways and Transportation department at Essex County Council. This report contains a devastating critique of arrogance and riding roughshod over local opinion.

'I am delighted that the leader of the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall, Cllr Tom Smith-Hughes has called in the decision of Essex Cabinet Member, Cllr Rodney Bass, for further review. This received the backing of Uttlesford's South West Area Panel last Thursday.'

District Council colleague and Chairman of Stansted Parish Council, Geoffrey Sell, added: 'The Parish Council agreed unanimously last Wednesday to fight these plans. Cllr Bass is discriminating against Stansted by ignoring local opinion and only listening to other parts of the District and the County.

'Residents in streets threatened by the midnight switch-off have voted by as much as six to one against the County Council plan. I am very disappointed at with the way the County Council has handled this so far and hope that calling in the decision will lead to Stansted being listened to at last.'