On Monday 3rd February 2025 , Cornwall Council will begin their street light initiative programme, in which streetlights will be switched off from 12pm to 5am in the following locations:
- Looe, St Martins
- Morval (whole parish)
- Downderry & Seaton
This supports Cornwall Council’s goal of becoming Carbon Neutral by 2030. The initiative will also reduce light pollution and energy costs.
Cornwall Council explained the initiative further:
“To help reduce light pollution some of our lights are turned off part of the night, usually between midnight and 5am. This will help meet the Council’s ambition to become Carbon Neutral by 2030. For the benefits of reduced light pollution, please see Light Pollution – Buglife.
We are rolling this out in batches of approximately 1000 lights at a time and currently have 11,000 switched off. Based on the current approved policy there are 36,000 lights (of 56,000) that will be switched off by the end of the project. The streetlighting energy cost per night in 2021 was £5,274 and in 2023 had increased to £9,445 per night. Energy prices remain at the increased rate. The Council must continue to implement changes to make savings both for the environment to meet our carbon commitments and manage budgets. Once the switch-off project is complete the annual saving, based on current energy rates, will be £680,000 per year. This equates to a saving of £1,863 per night.”
It is important to note that, the main road A387 will remain illuminated, as will the Town Centre area (mainly Fore Street and the quay). Other more residential areas may remain illuminated but further dimmed, these are areas where there are speed humps in a 30mph limit (20mph zones will be switched off). There is an interactive map that show which lights are switched off, this is due to be updated over the weekend and should be available via: Street lights switched off after Sunday 2nd February.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Cornwall Council Roads, Traffic & Parking directly via: 0300 1234 222 or via the Streetlighting webpage
Job Opportunity: Cleaning & Maintenance Operative 
Location: Looe, Cornwall
Hours: 22.5 hrs per week (3 shifts including Monday & Sunday)
