THE Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex has welcomed a report proving that a lack of street lights does not lead to more crime or crashes.

Nick Alston backs a report by University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which studied 14 years worth of data from 62 councils, including Essex.

The results, which were published in the Journal of Epidemiology, looked at statistics for burglary, car theft, robbery, violence and sexual assault, showed crime had in fact gone down.

It supports claims previously made by Mr Alston.

He said: "While the report does not claim 100 per cent reliability as a number of local authorities failed to supply data, which may have had an impact on the results, it concludes that there is no evidence that part night lighting has led to either an increase or a decrease in road traffic collisions.

"It does draw attention to the important point that as part night lighting is introduced local authorities have conducted risk assessments to ensure riskier areas of road, for example those close to junctions, remain lit.

"The analysis also shows that in general crime actually reduces slightly where PNL has been introduced, though there are one or two anomalies.

"The analysis of the data in Essex tends to support these findings though I still consider the sample size of data that we can work with in Essex to be too small to draw firm conclusions. Crime and particularly antisocial behaviour does seem to reduce with the introduction of PNL with few exceptions.

"We have also gained a deeper understanding of the road safety risks associated with PNL. In Essex the risks associated with higher speed roads, used by pedestrians, particularly those returning from pubs and clubs, have come to the fore following a small number of very serious incidents."

Essex County Council began plunging streets into darkness from midnight until 5am in 2013 to save cash, but the blackout now starts at 1am.

Local councils have offered to fund the street lights themselves following uproar from residents, but have since u-turned following the release of the new report.

Mr Alston added: "We now for the first time have a reliable study that enables us to say with more confidence that PNL, when properly introduced and based on risk assessment, has no adverse impact on the overall level of road traffic collisions – but understanding those risk factors is crucial and that’s what we are seeking to do here in Essex. The study also tells us that crime may indeed reduce as a result of PNL.

"We will continue to monitor the local evidence carefully with the confidence that Essex County Council will respond rapidly to operational requests form Essex Police."