COUNCIL chiefs in Worcestershire insist they will not u-turn on switching off 17,000 street lights at night - after Essex became the first part of the UK to cave in to public pressure.

In April last year Worcestershire County Council launched a two-year plan to switch off the majority of lights in residential areas from midnight to 6am.

But after concern it was putting people at risk Harlow Council in Essex has come the country's first authority to reverse the programme, saying the darkness had become "people's number one concern" in its own public surveys.

Council tax has gone up 1.5 per cent to help pay for it with Labour, Conservative and UKIP politicians in Harlow uniting to back the reversal.

The decision has led to the Tory leadership at County Hall ruling out any move here - saying it would rather "align public perception with reality" than turn the clocks back.

Councillor John Smith, the cabinet member for highways, has also revealed how the authority has held regular briefings with the police who found no concerns over it.

Worcestershire's programme has already seen lights go out in Droitwich, Redditch, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster and Bewdley as well as scores of villages, with 12,000 done so far.

The scheme started in Worcester back in August, by far the biggest part of the project, with work across the city running until May next year.

In Essex polls saw the light-switch offs top the list of public concern, but here the county council insists people do not see it as a priority.

Councillor Smith was asked during a full council meeting if he was considering copying Harlow.

He said: "There are continuing discussions with the police at all levels and none of them, I stress none of them, have identified a direct link between reduced hours of lighting and any increased crime rates or night-time accidents.

"I firmly believe we should endeavour to align public perception with the reality, rather the reserve the decision previously made."

He was prompted to make his views clear by Councillor Ken Pollock, who chairs County Hall's economy and environmental scrutiny panel.

Councillor Pollock urged him not to "feed the unwarranted fears" some people may have by "giving in" and switching any back on.

The county council's project will touch two in every three lights across residential areas, but will leave main roads lit.

By 2016, bosses say it will save taxpayers £600,000 a year from a total budget of £2.4 million for 52,000 street lights and 8,000 illuminated signs across Worcestershire.

During the full council debate Labour Councillor Paul Denham suggested some main roads should considered for it, saying he felt the balance was wrong.