Street lights in the county could soon be dimmed earlier in the evening as Leicestershire County Council plans to cut costs. A decision over the proposal, which will see the majority of lights across the county dimmed to 30 per cent of its possible brightness from 8pm rather than 10pm, as they are currently, is to be made by the authority's cabinet on Tuesday, December 19.

Council officers have advised an 18-month trial of the scheme to begin in February. The move comes as the county council faces its most challenging financial picture ever. Some £36 million of general budget cuts have been identified for the next four years, but £85 million more must be found if the council hopes to stay afloat.

However, the news of the trial is likely to cause concerns for residents throughout the county. The results of a consultation into the proposal show that 40 per cent of residents strongly disagree with the plan, while a further 13 per cent "tend to disagree".

In contrast, 29 per cent strongly agreed with the plan and 14 per cent "tend to agree". Of the 53 per cent of residents against the proposal, 22 per cent said their main reason for that stance was fear of crime and 17 per cent flagged general vulnerability as a concern.

Saving money and environmental reasons were given as key deciding factors by those in favour of the scheme – 13 and 12 per cent respectively. Some 705 responses to the question of whether residents agreed with the plan and why were given, a council report shows.

Residents were also asked whether they felt they would be impacted by the proposals and the council received 702 responses. Of those, 33 per cent said they felt they would be impacted a great deal, 37 per cent to some extent, 18 per cent not very much, 11 per cent not at all and one per cent did not know.

Of the people who strongly disagreed with the plans, 20 per cent said concerns about personal safety would be the primary impact on them. And 34 per cent of those who strongly agreed with the plan said lighting levels would be the primary impact.

The majority of the responses came from women, the council report showed. Overwhelmingly, 62 per cent of the women who responded were against the plan. This is compared to 52 per cent of the male respondents opposing it.

Some 24 per cent of respondents said they had a long-term illness or disability and, among those, 64 per cent disagreed with the proposal.

Officers have said the council needs to make £500,000 worth of savings in the street light department by the 2024/25 financial year. However, the authority is suggesting some exemptions to the earlier dimming of the lights which means this scheme would only cut around £380,000 from their spending. Other service reductions may therefore become necessary, the authority has said.

Exemptions include zebra crossings, vertical traffic calming features such as speed bumps, and steps that are currently covered by lighting. Town centres will also be exempt, but the exact area of that coverage is still to be determined, the report said.

The council currently maintains approximately 69,600 street lights. There is no legal duty on the council to provide street lights, the authority added. However, once it is provided, the council does have a duty to maintain the system in a safe condition. If the council fails to do this and danger is created on the highways, it could be held liable.

The authority also has a responsibility to "do all that it reasonably can to prevent crime and disorder in its area". The council said Leicestershire Police, East Midlands Ambulance Service and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service have raised no objection to the plan.

The council says it is also looking at a carbon saving of around 261 tonnes. Since 2010, after saving 17 million kWh of energy through other initiatives such as part-night lighting and a move to LED lighting

 Lead member for transport and highways Ozzy O'Shea previously said: "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."

"I really want to say to the public", he added. "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."

Leicestershire County Council's cabinet is set to meet next Tuesday, December 19, to debate and vote on the proposed 18-month trial.