THE lights could soon be going off in streets across West Somerset as part of a pilot scheme designed to save money and cut carbon emissions.

As revealed in the Free Press last year, West Somerset villages dominate the list of areas signed up to the pilot, including Monksilver, Dulverton, Winsford, Brushford, Exton, Brompton Regis and Exford.

A further seven phased switch-offs have also been proposed, although no details have been given as to the areas likely to be affected.

The Free Press was originally forced to submit a request for the details using the Freedom of Information Act after Somerset County Council refused to name the areas earmarked for the initial pilot scheme.

The authority insisted the information was confidential after a number of town and parish councils asked for their involvement in the so-called part night lighting scheme to be kept secret.

Now cabinet member Cllr Harvey Siggs, who has responsibility for highways, will be asked to give the go-ahead for the pilot scheme and clear the way for the seven additional phases to be implemented over the next three years.

He is due to make a 'cabinet member decision' on behalf of the entire county council next Monday, which would also see LED technology installed in remaining street lights when they were due for replacement, as well as in all new developments.

The county has secured £575,000 in grants and put in an additional £200,000 of its own money to convert street lights in rural areas to automatically switch off between midnight and 5.30am to save money and cut carbon emissions.

Any lights that are converted will remain switched off in the small hours for a minimum of two years while the effects of the scheme are "monitored".

But even if it proves unpopular with residents, the lights will only be switched back on if the police report an increase in crime, anti-social behaviour or accidents as a direct result of the switch-off.

The authority estimates it will save £753,527 through the part night lighting scheme over the next three years - which will also see lights dimmed at the Cotford St Luke and Cross Keys roundabouts on the A358 between Williton and Taunton.

The council said it would not turn off the lights completely on any A or B class roads or where safety was an overriding factor.

Equally, lights could only be altered providing there were no objections from parish and county councillors and members of the emergency services.

The county council is responsible for around 45,000 street lights and 8,000 illuminated signs, which cost an estimated £2 million a year to run.

While part night lighting is anticipated to save 40 per cent of the authority's annual energy costs on each unit, switching to LED lighting would save 60 per cent per light.

LED also has the benefit of being low maintenance and having a much longer life than convention lighting systems.

The other villages in Somerset signed up to the pilot scheme are Leigh on Mendip, Burrowbridge, Churchstanton, Tatworth and Forton, Keinton Mandeville, Axbridge and South Petherton.

Porlock had originally been included in the pilot but has now been dropped off the list.

When the idea was first mooted, Cllr David Hall, the then cabinet member for strategic planning and economic development, said he hoped the switch-off would cover 20 per cent of lights in the county, while a further five per cent could be dimmed.

He said: "We are eager to reduce the impact street lighting has on the environment as well as bringing our energy costs down.

"We are being very careful that the lighting of areas around major traffic routes, key pedestrian crossings, road hazards, vulnerable people's residences, hospitals, and crime hot spots are not affected."

Council officers estimate that each street light in the county is lit for around 4,500 hours a year.

Part night lighting would reduce that figure to 1,700 hours annually, while dimming would achieve a 50 per cent reduction in energy consumption "with negligible effect on the level of illumination".