People voice concern over 'dimmed' street lights

People living in a town have complained over the "lack of light" from newly installed light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs in their street.

Cambridgeshire County Council said it wanted to upgrade all street lights in the county to LED bulbs over the next 18 months.

Vanessa Richardson, 50, from March, Cambridgeshire, said the new, duller lights made it more difficult for her to see potholes when cycling.

The council said the new LED bulbs would "emit light in a more concentrated way directly towards the road" and reduce light pollution.

The local authority added it would be "testing and reviewing" the effect of the new bulbs following feedback.

Ms Richardson is a cyclist in March and has lived in the town for more than 25 years.

"The street lights need to be brighter, if I was not on a bike and walking around I would be pretty wary to be fair.

"I know a lot of people who wouldn't want to go out now because of the dim lights," she added.

She said she struggled to see potholes when cycling, despite having lights fitted.

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "You get more light from my cat's laser pen than you do from the street lamps."

"It a bit like the light from a torch that is on its last legs," said Linda Thrower, 71, who has lived in March for seven years.

"No-one asked us about the change, there are a lot of elderly ladies in our road and people like to see who is walking about," she added.

Ms Thrower said she had erected her own solar-powered lights in her garden to try and illuminate the area better.

Zoe Mason, 43, said the street lights in March were previously "lovely and bright", but now they were "absolutely shocking".

Cambridgeshire County Council said on its website that it was "committed to making Cambridgeshire a greener place to live and work".

It said it planned to reduce the existing carbon usage of street lights to meet zero carbon emissions targets by 2030.

It added that the rollout of newer, more efficient LED lights was expected to cut energy consumption from street lighting by more than half.

The council will be replacing more 47,000 existing street lights with new LED lights over two years, with approximately 2,000 street lights being replaced each month.

The new street lights are designed for 20 years of continuous life, with no maintenance required other than cleaning.

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.