A NEW street lighting scheme is set for Whitchurch after the town council agreed to new dimming proposals.

The scheme, debated at last Monday’s council meeting, will permit the authority’s current electricity provider, SSE, to add automated dimming switches to all council-owned street lamps.

The switches, to be fitted in areas such as Winchester Street and Bell Street, will allow lighting to be dimmed by 25 per cent between the time the lamps are switched on and midnight, and 50 per cent between midnight and 5am.

From 5am onwards, the lamps will rise to 75 percent of full power until they are switched off.

Currently the lights, which are black “lantern” styled, do not having dimming facilities and run on full power all night.

The scheme will bring lighting down to similar levels as Hampshire County Council-owned lamps in the town, which are run on the same time schedule, but with lights dimmed by 35 and 60 per cent.

Chairman of Whitchurch Town Council Mike Kean said: “The scheme is about saving energy and money.

“It will also make the lights more environmentally friendly because they currently run on full power at night.”

The scheme will be trialled for between nine months and a year to allow the council to judge the adequacy of lighting during the winter.

Cllr Kean added: “It will give us the chance to assess the lighting and we will then review it to see if it is working and if there have been any complaints or observations.

“If everyone is happy perhaps we can look at dimming them more or to a similar level as the county council.”