MEMBERS of the public and town councillors will become the eyes and ears of Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) when it comes to street lighting.

MCC Cabinet members voted to withdraw the Street Lighting Patrol service as from November 1 in a bid to become more efficient and environmentally friendly.

The future employment of two members of staff affected by the transfer will be managed with severance costs. In a report to members it stated that the approved budget for street lighting is forecast to overspend significantly in 2008/09 largely due to energy costs increasing above budgeted inflation levels.

The council currently employs two members of staff on a part time basis to carry out scheduled evening patrols of all street lighting installations around the county and report any problems.

The problems are recorded on the highways logging database and the work instructions are issued to the maintenance contractor.

The service meant that lamps were monitored fortnightly.

Now the reporting of defective lamps will rely largely on council staff, county and town councillors and the general public via the One Stop Shops and (in due course) the internet. The Patrol Service costs around £22,000 per annum.

MCC Leader, councillor Peter Fox said, "This will give a large contribution towards being greener and reducing CO2 and vehicle pollution."

Councillor and cabinet member Bob Greenland said scrapping the Patrol Service was an "excellent way forward."

Councillor Fox added, "I have been a community councillor since 1995, I was not aware that we had this Patrol Service. We would identify faulty lighting and notify our clerks."

Liberal democrat leader, councillor Phil Hobson said, "I am sorry to see there's going to be redundancies, however, going around the streets is part of our job - even though there's one that I can't get switched off during the day for six years."