THE Vale council's new part-night lighting scheme has made "less than expected" savings.

Back in October 2014, the council opted to retain its LED stock and introduce part nighting 70 per cent of the remaining stock. It meant street lamps would be switched off between midnight and 6am.

This was rolled out across the Vale from July 2015.

Initial estimates indicated an implementation cost of £350,385, with annual energy cost savings of £371,862.71. A carbon dioxide saving of 1338 tonnes per year with a payback period of 0.9 years, was also projected.

But, after extensive consideration by a part night lighting board - made up of officers from highways and engineering, road safety, community safety and the police - it was only possible to part night 65 per cent of the conventional lighting stock, it was decided.

A report into the street light energy reduction strategy was put before cabinet on Monday.

The report states: The projected full year energy saving from the part-night scheme is now £217,000 with 1042 tonnes of Co².

"Whilst the financial and carbon dioxide savings are lower than the estimates, the implementation costs were considerably less than those predicted, meaning that the pay-back period has reduced from 0.9 years to 0.65 years."

More than 200 complaints had been made to the council as of earlier this month, regarding the scheme, mainly concerning dark areas in residential streets.

Councillor Gwyn John, member for leisure and visible services, admitted they hadn't achieved the level of savings they had hoped for at the cabinet meeting.

He added that LEDs were identified as being "exempt from risk", and that he has "excellent experiences" of LEDs but recognised there were some concerns.

Miles Punter, director of environment and housing services, called the scheme successful. He said there had been a small number of complaints but recognised the challenges of increasing energy costs and decreasing budgets.

Part night lighting affects those on shift work through the night but LEDs provide an extended lighting presence, he added.

Capital funding of £100,000 for both 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 had been made available to extend the LED stock.

The report will now be referred to the scrutiny committee for economy and environment before coming back to cabinet in the near future to consider how to proceed in terms of retaining or re-adopting the policy.