CALLS are being made to slow down the switching off of street lights across Worcestershire - with one councillor claiming people are "appalled" by it.

The county council has been urged to take a step back on the money-saving project amid concerns the wrong ones are being tackled.

In April last year, bosses launched a project to switch off 17,000 lights between midnight and 6am to save on energy costs.

So far Droitwich, Bromsgrove, Bewdley, Redditch and Kidderminster have been done and Worcester is next in line, with the whole county due to be finished by next spring.

Councillor Fran Oborski, a Liberal, says not enough consultation has taken place over which ones are going off, ignoring the "detailed local knowledge" of politicians.

Her criticism has been rejected by the council, which says she failed to take up the chance to attend briefings on it beforehand.

Councillor Oborski said: "In some streets in my division it means that lights which poke out through street trees are being left on, giving very restricted light, whilst unobstructed lights are being switched off."

She said the public back the project, but have been left "angry" by a perceived lack of consultation, saying it has left busy spots used by shift workers "in total darkness" but other spots "brightly illuminated".

Speaking during a full council meeting, she added: "Can (Councillor John Smith, the cabinet member for highways) assure me that a review will be held into the selection of lights to be switched off and that the detailed local knowledge of local members will be utilised to ensure public safety is not compromised?"

Councillor Smith said she had not attended briefings when she had the chance, saying she had missed two of them, and also revealed that sessions arranged with the public have been "poorly attended".

"Before we started this process, I ensured all councillors had an opportunity to go to consultation meetings," he said.

After the street lights switch-off ends in Worcester, it will move across the rest of south Worcestershire.

The move is aimed at saving £600,000 per year in electricity costs by 2016, from a total annual budget of £2.4 million for 52,000 street lights and 8,000 illuminated road signs.

Before the project launched last April a six-month trial took place in Droitwich which led to virtually no complaints.

Despite that the Conservative leadership has had to fend off criticism from other politicians on it, with Councillor Smith insisting it will not plunge areas into darkness.

Last year it also rejected any concerns it will lead to a rise in crime, after reports surfaced in The Times of problems elsewhere in the country.

To see more facts and figures on the switch-off project click here.