It’s not anarchy, it’s democracy

My view – and I should emphasise that I am expressing a personal view only – is that Cllr David Saul should be warmly applauded for proposing that this survey takes place. As councillors, we should be representing the views of our electorate. We don’t often get the opportunity to ask large numbers of them directly about their views, and generally have to use our judgement of what they would wish.

However, on this particular issue we will have the benefit of the survey results and it will be my policy to support whatever the majority decides. Should the outcome be, as your article predicts, clear support to keep the lights on, I am sure that the parish council will pursue this matter with Warwickshire County Council with the utmost rigour.

It would appear from the remarks by Cllr Peter Butlin, portfolio holder for transport and planning at WCC, that he is not too willing to take account of the vox populi. I cannot agree with him that it would be “totally unworkable” to satisfy any wish that Cubbingtonians may express to keep one half of our lights on throughout the night. After all the council has spent well over £1million of taxpayers’ money to install a very sophisticated street lighting control system that allows key individual lamp standards, at road junctions for example, to remain illuminated when the majority go off. It would surely be a simple matter to add to those key lights and exempt one in two of our lampposts from the big switch off.

Cllr Butlin predicts “total anarchy” will result should other parish councils follow our lead – it’s not “anarchy” councillor, its “democracy”.

Cllr Peter Delow, Pinehurst, Cubbington