A current topic of debate in the Vale area - probably elsewhere too, certainly in Cardiff - is the presence and degree of street lighting.

There is a particular focus on the hours between midnight and 6am, where some councils are planning, either to turn off most street lights completely, or to dim the lights instead, perhaps a combination of both strategies.

The motive is to "save some money" and there are possible "green" motives too ie, for the sake of the environment.

I am (just) old enough to recall black-out in World War II. It was disagreeable and, in spite of a much lower volume of motor traffic, accident levels were proportionately very high and bright lit shop and office windows - some waste here perhaps in the private sector - just did not exist.

Much later I experienced the lack of street lighting in a small town in Brittany and three decades after this in Normandy (1991/92). There would be some street lighting until say 9pm. In summer there would not be any.

I also came across the same situation in rural parts of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire in the 1980s. Pedestrians would need torches and could sometimes be dazzled by security lights from private houses.

Motorists would drive more on main beam than dipped headlights, dazzling passers-by.

Cutting back too heavily on street lighting is not a good idea therefore.

Michael O'Neill

Penarth