Ipswich street lights to be kept on
Ipswich Borough Council has responded to public concerns about safety in the light of Sarah Everard’s death and has instructed Suffolk County Council to leave on all night all of the street lights within Ipswich that the Borough Council owns.
It is estimated that the Borough owns about 5% of the town’s street lights with most of the remaining 95% owned by Suffolk County Council.
As an example, the Borough owns the lights on Allenby Rd, Brooks Hall Rd, Mildmay Rd and Stonelodge Lane West. These lights should now be on throughout the hours of darkness rather than being turned off before midnight.
An additional Ipswich Community Safety Partnership (CSP) meeting has also been called for Wednesday 24 March at the request of Ipswich’s Community Safety Portfolio Holder to discuss current safety concerns. This meeting will be asked to endorse a bid led by the Borough Council to the Government’s Safer Streets Fund which will seek additional support to provide additional lighting, CCTV and more secure public spaces.
Councillor Alasdair Ross, Chair of the Ipswich CSP and Portfolio Holder for Community Protection at Ipswich Borough Council, says:
“The terrible death of Sarah Everard has raised real public safety concerns, particularly for many women and children. We hope that our decision to leave our lights on throughout the night will provide some reassurance for people out and about at night.
“I would urge Suffolk County Council to consider leaving their lights on throughout the night too. I really hope that our partners will endorse our Safer Street Fund bid and that the Government allocate much needed funding to Ipswich to enable us to deliver on our plans.”