Poole council is refusing to reveal which roads are likely to have their streetlights switched off after midnight as part of a nine-month trial.

It says the police have advised against publishing a list of roads “in order to help reduce any potential for fear of crime”.

Surely the council should release the information and let residents decide for themselves whether they should be afraid of crime.

The council has consulted 14,730 residents in 4,500 roads over this issue, so suddenly turning secretive now will put at risk whatever goodwill the authority has built up.

A report to members of the council’s cabinet: “Those residents living in a road that is chosen to proceed with a switch off will know once the trial is implemented.”

As a statement of the obvious, that takes some beating.