Councillors have agreed to a consultation on a plan to dim street lighting across Ashby and Leicestershire to save cash.

Leicestershire County Council will be giving residents a chance to have their say on a plan which would see lights across the county dimmed to 30 per cent from 8pm each night.

The cash-strapped authority needs to save more than £500,000 in the street lighting department over the next four years, a report states.

Considering the possible option for achieving this, the council's cabinet has agreed dimming the lights earlier carries the least risks while allowing the savings to be made. Currently, many residential areas are lit at 50 per cent brightness between 8pm and 10pm, and then drop to 30 per cent.

However, even this option still comes with a number of concerns, a report submitted to the council's cabinet at a meeting last Friday (June 23) revealed. These include an increase in traffic accidents and people injuring themselves through slips and falls.

There are also worries that dimming the lights might lead to some people – the disabled, women, LGBT+ and the elderly – becoming more isolated as they could feel less safe being out and about at night if the area is not as well-lit because of a perception that crime and anti-social behaviour could increase, the report explained. The council will be seeking opinions on the scheme from equalities groups and the emergency services, as well as its residents.

Other options considered were switching off all lights between midnight and 5.30am, and only providing street lighting for half of the year – between September and March. However, these are felt to be more risky. The consultation is expected to be launched in the coming weeks and the results considered by the council in December. It will be a chance to explore the "risks, mitigations and any exemptions to the proposal", the authority has said. Some roundabouts and major junctions could be excluded from the new lighting regime to reduce any dangers.

Lead member for transport and highways Ozzy O'Shea said at the meeting: "I have been on streets where the 30 per cent is actually in at the present time and I must be honest with you, I don't see a lot of difference at all, if any. We're doing the right thing here," he added. "We're trying to save money because we're a lower funded council. We've been put in this position by the Government. We don't want to cut anything in this council."

Coun O'Shea, who represents Groby and Ratby, also offered reassurance that, if problems did arise in areas, those lights could always be turned back up. "I really want to say to the public", he said. "We work with the police, we work with the emergency services. When we need to have the lights put on fully because we have crime in the area, with do that in connection with the police. We did that in Groby when we had problems there in March."

The authority has described impact of the newly-proposed changes as "minimal", but said they come with big savings and a large reduction in carbon emissions. The changes, if approved, would come into play by the end of the year.