Pensioner's lights offer
Public-spirited Powys carer Mike Atherton is to pay almost £300 from his own pocket to have street lights switched back on in his village.
Public-spirited Powys carer Mike Atherton is to pay almost £300 from his own pocket to have street lights switched back on in his village.
The 60-year-old said he was concerned that residents were being trapped in their homes once darkness fell because of Powys County Council's cost-cutting move to switch off thousands of street lights across the county.
See also: Petition to PM over street lighting
Mr Atherton, from Llangynog in the Tanat Valley, near Oswestry, said he was so concerned he was prepared to foot the bill himself.
A total of 9,000 lights are being turned off by the council in a bid to save £225,000 and reduce the authority's carbon footprint.
But the move to turn off two out of three street lights has come under severe criticism from councillors, politicians and residents, who feel their safety is at risk.
Irresponsible
Mr Atherton said today: "The council has been totally irresponsible in switching so many lights off which is causing a severe threat to public safety.
"I believe the switch-off has left elderly and vulnerable people in real danger, trapped in their homes and deprived of any social life.
"The village car park is not lit which makes it difficult to use the only public telephone. It also affects holidaymakers staying in the caravan parks who don't want to walk into a darkened village and it threatens the business of our two pubs and the evening paper round.
"The switch-off has a detrimental psychological effect on people, which is why I have offered to pay for the lights to go back on for Christmas and up until the end of March.
"I call upon Powys County Council to withdraw immediately these draconian measures and find more constructive ways of saving energy."
Mr Atherton, a railway pensioner who currently works as a carer for Crossroads Mid & West Wales, met with Llangynog Community Council and Councillor Simon Baynes yesterday and said they supported him.
The community council will now contact the county council, with a hope the lights will be back on by December 1.
Councillor Gwilym Tibbott, community council chairman, said: "This is a generous offer and shows how the local community comes together to solve their problems."
By Deborah Knox
