Streetlights across Slough are set to be dimmed in a cost-saving exercise under plans approved by council leaders.

Under the plans, streetlights on residential streets will operate at as little as 30 per cent of their capacity late at night to save the council up to £112,000 a year.

Council leader Dexter Smith said the move will allow the council to ‘save energy and money’ while also addressing possible ‘light pollution problems’.

Speaking as leading councillors approved the plans, he said it was a ‘sensible and prudent development to be welcomed’.

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Currently, streetlights in Slough are lit at 70 per cent capacity on all roads from dusk to dawn.

But under the new plan, those in residential areas will be lit at 50 per cent from dusk until 10pm, falling to 40 per cent until midnight, and then to 30 per cent until dawn. A-roads will be lit at a constant 60 per cent.

The decision follows a series of trials by Slough Borough Council with the first starting in February 2023. The council says that during the trials it received ‘no complaints’ from residents. It added that it believes the changes will ‘go unnoticed by most people’.

The changes were approved by Slough’s group of leading councillors – its cabinet – on Monday November 18.

Councillor Gurcharan Manku, responsible for the environment, said the new policy ‘aims to reduce carbon emissions, save energy and cut costs while ensuring essential lighting services for our residents’.