Thefts from motor vehicles ‘quadrupled’ since Epsom and Ewell was plunged into natural darkness in the early hours of the morning as the county council sought to balance its budget.
The county council controversially turned off 44,000 street lights across Surrey between midnight and 5am, with lights in Epsom and Ewell being switched off from February 6.
In the four months after the switch-off there were 195 reported thefts from motor vehicles in the borough – about four times the number of offences (48) in the same period last year, according to figures obtained Neighbourhood Police Inspector Jackie Elkins.
The Epsom Guardian has approached Surrey Police for confirmation of the time frame in which these crimes happened, but it is understood that the data are not restricted to the midnight-5am window.
Ahead of the lights going out in Epsom and Ewell, Joe Bates, 52, a retailer who lives in College ward in Epsom, told the Epsom Guardian: “It will cause crime to go up like nothing. It’s ridiculous.”
In March, retired courier, Alan Pearch, 60, called for the lights to be turned back on after his white Hyundai was vandalised in the early hours of the morning in Tonstall Road, Epsom.
From Wednesday: Epsom and Ewell’s Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green party candidates face off in 'Question Time-style' hustings
And at Tuesday’s Epsom and Ewell hustings, Caroline, who had recently moved to Ashtead, said walking home in the darkness made her feel “unsafe”.
Ewell Court, Auriol & Cuddington councillor at county level Eber Kington (pictured above) told the Epsom Guardian that residents had repeatedly raised the switch-off as a “major concern”.
He added: “The figures are shocking. We’re reaping the results of a bad policy.”
Surrey County Council turned off 44,000 of the county’s 89,000 street lights to save an estimated £210,000 per year.
In March, the council announced £72million of as-yet unspecified cuts to frontline services this year to try to balance its budget after the Tory government cut its annual grant by £170million since 2010.
Last week, the Conservative cabinet approved a paper allowing the county’s 11 borough and district councils to request for lights in their area to be excluded from the part-night lighting scheme, but the councils would have to foot the energy bill and stump up for any increases in carbon tax.
At the county council cabinet meeting on Tuesday, May 30, Tory leader David Hodge (pictured above) defended the original decision: “When the cabinet made this decision it was originally considering a sound decision based on facts and what was happening.
“I think it’s important that we have listened to the residents in different areas and to recommendations about safety issues and the environmental impact as well.”
From December: Surrey County Council announces streetlights to be turned off in Epsom and Ewell
Cllr Kington described the Tory cabinet’s devolution of control over part-night street lighting as “an abdication of their duty and responsibility to keep people safe”.
He also praised Epsom and Ewell’s Neighbourhood Inspector Jackie Elkins for updating him about the police’s work in fighting night-time crime.
In an email to Cllr Kington, Inspector Elkins wrote: “Vehicle crime is one of my team’s priorities due to the volume but without specific times, days or locations and the fact that it’s spread across the borough, it’s difficult to target.
“My team are stop-checking those out and about during the early hours and had some positive results with arrests, but ideally if we can encourage residents not to leave valuables in the cars then it would stop.”
The Epsom Guardian has contacted Surrey Police for further comment.
Explaining the initial decision to turn the lights off, a county council spokesman said in December: “Due to the ever-increasing demand for our services coupled with a reduction in government funding, we will be switching off streetlights in quiet areas with low amounts of traffic in the early hours of the morning.”
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