Stop Birmingham City Council's proposal to dim its streetlights across the entire city and instead use money allocated to phase 2 of Kings Heath and Moseley Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme to prevent this.

Birmingham City Council have announced that they intend to cut £900k per year from its street lighting budget by dimming its streetlights at night. They haven’t provided any further details on how much dimming will occur and whether particularly quiet roads will have their streetlights completely switched off.

It is well established that there is a direct link between the level of street lighting and its positive impact on reducing street crime and burglaries.

This dimming of these streetlights can be avoided by using £900k of Clean Air Zone monies allocated to phase 2 of Kings Heath & Moseley Low Traffic Neighbourhood. This scheme involves closing a handful of quiet roads throughout Moseley and Kings Heath so as to stop ‘outsiders’ driving their cars through the residential roads of Moseley and Kings Heath. A Council consultation in 2021 showed the majority of residents were against the proposed road closures: 56% were against the road closures, while 34% supported the road closures. The Council has ignored the views of the residents and are insisting on imposing the road closures against their wishes.

Money from the Birmingham Clean Air Zone has to be spent on projects that encourage walking, cycling and public transport. Stopping streetlights being dimmed fits into the category for encouraging walking and cycling. Indeed, the Council are using Clean Air Zone monies to fund school crossing patrols.

So, keep the residents of Moseley and Kings Heath happy and take the £900k of Clean Air Zone away from phase 2 of the proposed Low Traffic Neighbourhood and spend it where ALL THE RESIDENTS of Birmingham benefit by keeping the city’s streetlights burning bright and us safe.