Not many people will notice if plans to dim streetlights by 10 per cent are introduced, the leader of Bracknell Forest Council has said.

Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) plans to dim streetlights as part of cost-saving proposals. The suggestion prompted concerns from many borough residents that streets would become less safe at night.

But the council has clarified that dimming will affect mostly major roads, at times when most people are at home, and no underpasses. It added that it already dims streetlights at quieter times.

Council leader Mary Temperton told the News she believed most people wouldn’t ‘actually notice’ when lights are dimmed.

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She said: “They’ve been dimmed on estates and all over in Bracknell Forest for a while. The idea is to dim them 10 per cent and that would include the major roads.

“It will be gradually. It will be brightest when they’re most needed, and then darkest towards 4am. I really don’t think many people will actually notice.”

Councillor Temperton added that the plan could save ‘100 tonnes of carbon’ as part of efforts to reduce the council’s impact on the climate.

It is also expected to save BFC some £50,000 a year as part of cost-saving measures contained in the council’s proposed budget, running from April 2024 to April 2025. Councillors are set to debate and vote on the budget at a special meeting on Wednesday, February 2021.

Some 330 people shared their views on the budget when the council asked for the public’s views. And councillor Temperton said the response to the plans were ‘more or less really positive'.

But council leaders did drop plans to reduce the number of litter bins across the borough in response to strong opposition. And the Unite trade union is planning a lobby outside the council meeting on Wednesday, asking councillors to vote against cuts.

Terry Pearce, chairman of the Bracknell branch of Unite, shares councillor Temperton’s view that government funding for council services is too low. But he argues that the council should encourage 'support from their communities' to help resist making cuts.

He also suggested the council could find alternative ways of funding services, such as by reducing councillors’ allowances and using reserves – pots of money used to cover extra costs. These are mostly ‘earmarked', with rules on what the council can use them for.

Council budget documents say spending plans already involve taking a ‘significant sum’ of more than £5 million from different ‘earmarked’ reserves. But it says that as reserves are limited, this can only be a ‘short to medium-term’ plan.