Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the link between (a) street and (b) ambient lighting and the incidence of burglaries.

As I stated in my answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, Column 419W, street lighting plays an important role in road safety, as well as ensuring the personal safety of pedestrians. There may be some roads where lights could be dimmed in the very early hours, saving taxpayers' money. However, this should be a local decision by elected local councillors, reflecting local circumstances – especially in relation to any concerns about crime. Equally, not every neighbourhood wants street lighting, as some communities, especially in rural areas, value dark skies.

We believe that councils should listen to the views of their local residents, and then adopt appropriate local policies based on the neighbourhood, the precise location and the usage of the road/street. I previously noted that Manual for Streets contains some useful guidance on getting the balance right when providing street lighting, taking into account the different issues around safety, crime prevention, street clutter and light pollution. Ultimately, there is no prescriptive Whitehall guidance, and any assessment will depend on local circumstances and local views.

Notwithstanding, I would observe that Her Majesty's Opposition seem to have a short memory about their actions on cutting street lighting when they were in office:

· Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs: When the rt. hon. Member was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, his Department and its quangos lectured local councils to switch off or reduce street lighting to minimise carbon emissions. For example, in 2007, he personally launched the Carbon Trust Standard, which was tied to an extensive programme to reduce street lighting as part of the Local Authority Carbon Management Programme. As DEFRA Ministers told the House: “All authorities should be seeking to reduce energy usage both to cut costs and to help combat climate change. As street lighting accounts for a significant proportion of the energy used by authorities, it should be readily identified as an area that should be examined for potential efficiency savings” (6 November 2006, Official Report, Column 709W).

· Department for Transport: The Minister of State for Transport, the noble Lord Adonis (now a Shadow Minister for Infrastructure) when asked about reducing the hours of operation of street lighting, noted that “the Government also support the Carbon Trust's local authority carbon management programme, which provides councils with support and guidance to help them realise carbon emissions savings from street lighting” (17 December 2008, Official Report, House of Lords, Column WA52). Transport Ministers also endorsed the Highways Agency's ‘Efficiency Strategy for Road Lighting' which led to switching off motorway lighting at night (21 April 2008, Official Report, Column 1444W; Highways Agency, Efficiency Strategy for Road Lighting Midnight Switch Off for Motorway Lighting, 2009).

· Department for Communities and Local Government: The rt. Hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (now Shadow Home Secretary), when as Minister in the precursor department to DCLG, noted there was nuanced debate on the extent of street lighting: “We all recognise the fact that there is a series of tensions around light pollution. People in the cities will never have the same view of the night sky as one can get in the middle of Dartmoor... There can be tensions too at neighbourhood level between the security-obsessed householder who has glaring white security lights stuck to every corner of the house, which flicker on every time a little bird flies past or the cat runs across the garden, and the neighbour who... has a telescope and cannot see across the garden, let alone into the skies” (12 February 2004, Official Report, Column 510WH).

· Department for Energy and Climate Change: In 2008, the rt. hon. Member for Leeds Central also personally launched the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which resulted in councils cutting carbon emissions from street lighting, including dimming or switching off lights. The Highway Agency's Energy Strategy for Roadside Equipment (April 2010) explained that the approach of “dimming, trimming and partial night lighting” was a consequence of the requirements to meet the Carbon Reduction Commitment. As DECC Ministers said to the House: “DECC is working to include street lighting in the Carbon Reduction Commitment. This will provide an incentive for local authorities to improve the energy efficiency of street lights. DECC is working closely with Communities and Local Government to develop the policy, in so far as it relates to local authorities” (19 June 2009, Official Report, Column 515W). Of course, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change at that time was the rt. hon. Member for Doncaster North, now Leader of HM Opposition.

I hope this illuminates the historical fogginess of the Labour Party's current campaign on municipal street lighting. I would suggest the last person out of Labour HQ tonight should turn off the lights.