TURNING off street lights to save energy has not been ruled out by the leader of BCP Council.

Cllr Drew Mellor faced questions over the cost of living crisis and lights were the focus for some residents.

Alongside confirming switching off street lights was something being considered, Cllr Mellor moved to defend plans for Christmas lights displays due to take place this year.

When asked about street lighting, Cllr Mellor said: “We have had quite a lot of energy costs and our bills have gone up significantly because of energy.

“We will look at what we can do to be more efficient in terms of how we are using energy both on street lighting and in other parts of our estate.

“It is a live thing. I know from a personal memory when we reduced some street lighting in Poole Borough Council, some people were really positive about that and some less positive.

“Just to reassure people, we have done that historically and we have got a good evidence base for what works and what doesn’t work, so we will be looking at that as we move forward.”

From next month both Bournemouth and Poole are set to have large festive lights events taking place.

The Christmas Tree Wonderland is returning to Bournemouth town centre, while Poole Christmas Maritime Lights Festival is making its debut.

One resident asked how long the festive lights were going to be on for and why were they starting in November. They said: “We don’t want to be passed on the cost as we are paying enough already.”

Cllr Mellor said the council administration had a different view and core council tax had been frozen for two years.

“We have got a fantastic Bournemouth Christmas proposition through the town centre so that brings thousands and thousands of people in,” Cllr Mellor said.

“We recognised that we needed to do more across the conurbation so this year we are launching our Poole Maritime Lights Festival, which is at Christmas.

“We are actually trying to do more. We are trying to make sure it is a really vibrant place with a lot going on. We are working out where we can move to LED lighting. Something we did in Poole Borough Council, we moved all of our street lamps to LEDs. We are trying to make sure our costs are lower.

“I think most people really value a bit of positivity, a bit of Christmas spirit as well, so we are trying to make sure in balancing the budget we are not stopping that and we are investing in our communities.

“If you look down Poole Quay, Lower High Street, the Old Town, I think that is absolutely doing really well, thriving, and we have got many more things coming forward with that, FuturePlaces at the heart of leading some of the consultation on it.”