‘Dim streetlights by 50% and charge motorists at free car parks’ as council budget cuts bite

Street lights across Bury could be dimmed by 50 per cent in a bid to cut council costs, alongside the introduction of charges at up to 40 free car parks.

Bury Council will conduct a review to see if district charges can be implemented without adversely impacting vibrancy in the towns of Prestwich, Radcliffe, Whitefield, Tottington and Ramsbottom.

A flat rate charge of £2 per visit has been suggested in a paper to be put before the council’s Labour leadership next week. Other cost-cutting measures to be put before Bury Council’s cabinet include dimming most of the borough’s street lights by 50 per cent to save money, and cutting some senior roles within the authority through redundancy and early retirement.

Bury Council currently operate around 40 free car parks in the borough. Around 40 per cent of the spaces are in Prestwich at Fairfax Road and The Longfield Centre. The Fairfax car park is currently being redeveloped into a large multi-storey car park and the Longfield centre area is earmarked for residential apartment blocks as part of a later phase of the town’s current redevelopment.

Bury Council currently lists 40 free car parks under its control. There are 14 council car parks in Radcliffe, nine in Prestwich, eight in Ramsbottom, six in Bury outside the town centre, two in Tottington and single one in Whitefield
at Lily Hill Street.

It is understood the review of district car parking will only aim to introduce charges where it is ‘commercially viable’. 21 of the council car parks listed have 20 spaces or fewer.

The report on the potential introduction of charges said: “A strategic review of all parking services controlled district car parks will be commissioned to assess the viability and likely consequences of implementing a regime of car parking charges. “Multiple charging tariffs and occupancy levels have been considered, however officers believe that a flat charging regime of £2 with 50 per cent occupancy is likely to be supported by the strategic car parking review.”

Predicted full year revenue if such charges are implemented would amount to around £126,000. Legislation restricts the use of the income to the management and maintenance of car parking services and other highways related projects.

The report adds: “It would therefore be permissible to use any additional income to enhance the standard of our car parks, which often create a first impression of our district centres.” The report also says that to protect residential areas the council will need to consider a resident parking zone (RPZ) in the immediate vicinity of charging car parks to ensure motorists do not park in the residential streets rather than pay.

Another cost cutting method being planned is expanding a scheme to dim street lights in Bury. A report to cabinet, said: “This is to reduce energy costs, further reduce carbon emissions, and to close the funding gap.

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“The plan is to implement a 50 per cent dim from midnight to 6am, that will still provide a good lighting service to the borough and which will further reduce energy costs but will not have a detrimental impact, for example not dimming during peak times.”

The report said the light dimming will not be delivered on a blanket approach. It states “Each road will be assessed by officers to ensure suitability.

“Locations where exemptions will be applied include lights at major junctions and roundabouts, in town centres where there is CCTV, high security businesses such as banks or there is lots of people out at night, for example near night clubs and train stations.

“Areas where street lights are needed to reduce road accidents or where the authority considers it has a specific duty of care.” If streetlight dimming goes ahead it will save around £209,000 per year in energy costs.

The budget saving measures come as town hall finance chiefs in Bury warned that tough decisions will need to be made as they start the process to set a budget for 2025/26. The council has identified a massive budget shortfall of £35m for the three years up to 2028.

The authority say that potential savings of £9.4m already been identified and other measures will reduce the remaining gap to around £22m . However, the majority of the deficit will need to be found in the first year.