Villages in uproar at winter blackout to save council cash remain switched off

FURIOUS residents of six villages chosen for a street lighting blackout trial have condemned council plans to keep them in the dark throughout the winter months.

Earlier this year Aberdeenshire Council launched a pilot scheme to switch off the street lights between midnight and 6am in six small villages – Auchenblae, Auchterless, Monymusk, Rora, Sandend and Sauchen – to lower costs and cutting energy consumption.

And on Thursday councillors are being urged to continue the controversial scheme until March – despite a report that reveals at least a third of the residents believe the blackout has already had an adverse impact on their lives.

Villagers in the affected communities are outraged at the proposal and are demanding the scheme be scrapped.

Shirley Castles, who represents Auchenblae on the Mearns Community Council, said that villagers were totally opposed to an extension of the pilot scheme through the dark winter months.

She said: “We think it’s a disgrace. Elderly people feel very vulnerable.

“There have already been two incidents where local residents have tripped and fallen returning to their homes late at night because they couldn’t see where they were going. And we have also had a spate of vandalisms.”

She added: “The blackout is extremely unpopular.

“To plunge an entire village into complete darkness during the winter is absolutely appalling. ”

Jane Winfield, a member of the Fordyce, Sandend and District Community Council, said she was also concerned about the safety implications of a continued blackout.

She said: “I live near the harbour in the village and if there is a really high tide you can’t distinguish between the road and the sea at night.

“You could drive off the end into the sea if you didn’t know the area.

“Elderly people are effectively being subjected to a curfew … They are like prisoners in their own homes.”

The communities are being supported by Ian Gray, the SNP councillor for Banff and District.

He said: “There have been sporadic incidents of petty crime, but at the back of it all is the fear factor.

“I haven’t come across a single person who is satisfied with the scheme.”

David Armitage, Aberdeenshire Council’s road policy manager, states in a report to this week’s meeting of the infrastructure services committee that a survey has shown that 58 per cent of residents have been unaffected by the switch off, while 9 per cent said they had benefited as result of the blackout because they have slept better in total darkness “or that they liked being able to see the stars in the night sky better”.

He added: “However, an important minority of 33 per cent indicated that they felt they had been adversely affected.”

He is recommending that the committee approve the extension of the current trial until the end of March.