DEMANDS for street lights to be switched on for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in Chelmsford have been rejected.

The council had said they would like to see the lights put on to help people attending parties or midnight masses around the city.

In September, the county council went ahead with its money-saving plan to turn off the lights between midnight and 5am every day.

They can be turned back on under special circumstances and councillors believed it would help on safety grounds for worshippers and revellers. But the county council disagree.

Council leader Roy Whitehead said: “The view of the city council on both sides was it would be a good thing to have the lights turned on for these nights.

“Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are two very important days in peoples social calendars and we felt by allowing the lights to be turned on for these two days would show the flexibility of the scheme.

“I did ask councillor Rodney Bass directly about the possibility, but he said ‘he is not minded to do this’, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Bosses at the County Council said switching lights back on over the nights had been considered “carefully” but will not undertaken.

A spokesman said: “The county council suspends streetlights from the part-night lighting scheme in exceptional circumstances only.

“This either follows a request from the emergency services or due to dangerous environmental conditions.

“For example, the scheme has been suspended twice to assist emergency services, first during the storms in October and second, due to the expected flooding that occurred last Thursday.”