Personal safety campaigners from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust have voiced concerns at street lighting cuts as council chiefs meet to discuss the potential return of all-night lighting across Kent.

The organisation, which was set up after the disappearance of estate agent Suzy Lamplugh in 1986, believes that insufficient consideration has been given by local authorities to the impact of reducing street lighting.

In a statement formally submitted to Kent County Council, the trust said the effects of turning off lights overnight increase the risks to public safety as well as people’s perception of crime.

Today, councillors and officers are due to meet at County Hall in Maidstone to discuss the latest public consultation into its controversial Safe and Sensible initiative.

Members are being recommended to approve a return to all-night lighting, after overwhelming support from the public, but dimming levels to save cash.

The scheme, which saw lights in many residential areas switched off between the hours of midnight and 5.30am, was introduced to save money and cut down on pollution.

It was heavily criticised by campaigners, and KentOnline's sister paper the Dartford and Gravesend Messenger exclusively revealed that Kent Police, although they had been consulted about the switch-off, told council chiefs they could not support it.

In response to the policy being adopted by many authorities nationwide, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust launched its own Shine a Light campaign, and conducted a joint survey with the National Neighbourhood Watch Network, to which more than 15,000 people across the UK responded.

In its letter to KCC the trust stated that of the 38% who had noticed changes in street lighting, 46% perceived them to be negative and to have a negative impact.

The survey also found that while 92.9% said they felt ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ safe in well-lit areas, this fell to just 22% in unlit or poorly-lit areas, and that 65% avoided unlit areas while 40% considered going out less.

Trust policy and development manager Kristiana Wrixon said: “This indicates that not only can lack of or poor street lighting adversely affect the quality of life of a significant proportion of residents in the area but can also have repercussions for the night time economy and the environment.”

"Not only can lack of or poor street lighting adversely affect the quality of life, but can also have repercussions for the night time economy and the environment" - Kristiana Wrixon, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust

The letter added that certain demographics were also more likely to be affected, such as young people often out late, those on lower incomes who are more dependent on walking or public transport, and shift workers.

Ms Wrixon said councils should avoid adversely affecting residents’ quality of life when planning changes.

“Currently we do not believe that sufficient consideration has been given to the impact of reducing street lighting.

“We therefore support local campaigners to get the lights switched back on in their streets.”

Gravesend campaigner Tina Brooker is attending the meeting and is expected to deliver a hard-hitting speech.

The legal secretary set up a countywide online petition calling for lights to be reinstated and amassed more than 11,000 signatures, triggering a full council debate.

The response to her petition was in stark contrast to KCC’s first public consultation to which just over 500 of the county’s 1.5million population responded and was later criticised as being flawed in an independent report.

The second consultation asked whether people wanted a choice of two options - the current part-night lighting or a return to all-night lighting.

Views were also welcomed on the dimming of street lamps, which will be possible with the forthcoming installation of LED technology.

Miss Brooker, 53, of The Warren, said: “Councils such as KCC are forcing us to prove the necessity of street lighting in the vulnerable hours which, in my opinion is fundamentally and morally wrong.

“In terms of personal safety and well-being, street lighting in the hours of darkness is a right.

“They are also still failing to address the issue of the elderly and vulnerable people who live independently in their own homes and not in care homes which fall under the scheme’s exclusion criteria.”

Last week KCC announced that of more than 3,700 responses to its latest public consultation, 63% said they preferred the lights on all-night, while 37% said they liked part-night lighting at the current level.

A programme to convert the county's 118.000 street lights to LEDs is expected to start next month, and will allow light levels to be dimmed.

Dimmed all-night lighting has always been welcomed by campaigners as a suitable compromise.

Ahead of the meeting, Matthew Balfour, KCC cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “Now we are in a position to both make savings and respond positively to the views expressed in the LED street lighting consultation, we can now recommend that we adopt all night lighting.

"This could happen once a street light has been converted to LED and is commissioned on to a central management system.

“The CMS technology will allow us to consider requests from the community to alter the pattern of lighting levels.”