To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail the locations where street lights have been (i) removed; and (ii) permanently turned off since 19 August 2015.

As part of its ongoing capital replacement programme to replace street lights that have reached the end of their lives, my Department removes and replaces many street lights each year, depending on the available funding.

In considering those lighting installations which are deemed to have reached the end of their serviceable life and can no longer be maintained, a survey is carried out of the location and lighting is replaced only in those adopted areas which meet my Department’s policy for the provision of lighting. This can result in the removal and non-replacement of lights in areas such as back pathways, unadopted roads and footways, or rural areas with insufficient density of housing. These lights are removed for safety reasons as they can no longer be maintained, there are no instances where lights have been permanently turned off.

This policy helps ensure that the limited resources available for the provision of street lighting are directed at those areas where they can provide the maximum benefit to the public, particularly where road or infrastructure safety is concerned

Whilst my Department keeps detailed records of the number of street lights across the network, details of lights which have been removed and not replaced are not recorded separately and would not be easily attained. To attempt to provide details of these removals would require an extensive exercise to be conducted across the department which might only be expected to produce data with a limited degree of exactitude, and this exercise itself would very likely involve disproportionate costs.