WE don’t envy the decisions and choices facing our councillors who generally end up being criticised for whatever they do. It’s never easy to run services in the face of ever-dwindling cash resources set against increasing demands to follow health and safety red tape and protect the environment and green belt.

That’s why we hesitate to put the boot in too heavily after Buckinghamshire County Council’s latest decision to permanently remove street lights from 40 sites across the county following a trial. The move is being made, despite the fact that accidents during darkness have gone up on seven of the roads concerned.

The council, however, will tell you that the number of recorded injury coillisions at the switch-off sites, when averaged across all of them, has reduced by 26 per cent. So it’s possible, despite the complaints and the fears of residents, that this scheme is working – it just depends on which way you view the statistics.

In bald cash terms, it certainly makes sense. £4m will be saved in the long run on maintenance fees, set against the removal fees of £850,000. And hundreds of thousands of pounds will also be saved in energy costs, while the environment will benefit from the reduction in CO2.

So all in all, a good decision? Try telling that to the frightened motorists who find driving on the darkened roads a lot more difficult nowadays. Perhaps, they are not very good drivers and shouldn’t be let out at night, then – or perhaps this will actually make people slow down and be more responsible on our roads?

Accidents have happened on these roads since the switch-off, but are they the fault of the lack of lights? Impossible to know for sure.

But the Free Press believes the council has got this wrong. If modern technology exists to illuminate our main roads, then surely it must be used to protect the public. The pros and cons can be argued from here to eternity, but just one death as a result of this light removal will render all the savings and benefits irrelevant.

Perhaps we’re being over-cautious. Perhaps they are right, because after all they are the experts. But sadly we still retain the sinking fear that this switch-off ultimately makes our county a much less safe place.