A MONEY-saving scheme to switch off street lights at night could be scaled back over fears of increased crime and safety.

Highland Council will this week consider ending a plan which has seen every second street light switched off in a bid to reduce the £2 million electricity bill for its 50,000 street lights.

A report will also recommend discontinuing trials of a switch off between midnight and 6am in areas where there is strong resistance, but will say that it should continue in areas where there is support from the community.

The report to the council will say the introduction of white light and dimming has been generally successful so should continue.

Some £60,000 a year is being saved but only £5000 from the lighting reduction trials and £55,000 from conversion to low-energy white light, which has been applied to 2200 columns.

Many of the smaller communities among the 40 that took part in lighting reduction supported the project, but some slightly larger ones had concerns. These were typically where there were 50 to 150 lights, in the likes of Kinlochleven, Dunvegan on Skye and Banavie near Fort William.

According to the report: "These communities tended to have a village hall or hotel which meant that people were more likely to be out after darkness. The villages sometimes had some minor crime, vandalism and thefts."

The trials had the stipulation that if there were criminal incidents in a test area the street lights could be switched on again at short notice, although no such incidents were reported by police.

However, one letter from a resident in Jemimaville on the Black Isle attributed a burglary to the lights being off, and an incident of vandalism was reported by a resident in Tomatin, south of Inverness