Street lights across Huddersfield are getting a new look.

Thousands are being replaced with bulbs that turn dimmer during the early hours, while others are being switched off to save energy.

But Kirklees Council has insisted that its efforts to provide light and keep people safe are paying off.

It responded to a survey out this week which claimed too many lights were being switched off, putting people at risk.

Three-quarters of English councils are switching off or dimming some street lights at night, leading to claims that significant areas have been “plunged into darkness” since the Government took office.

Labour claimed the squeeze on budgets coupled with high electricity prices were leading councils to turn off or dim almost a quarter of all lights, compared with under 3% in May 2010.

A total of 1.36 million lights are either off or dimmed at night, compared with 148,000 in May 2010, out of a total of 5.7 million in the areas surveyed.

But both Kirklees and Calderdale councils stress they have consulted with police and other organisations before changing the lights.

A Kirklees Council spokesman said: “We recognise the importance of good street lighting but we also appreciate the need to reduce our energy consumption. As a result, we are committed to reducing the electricity consumed by street lighting and several measures have been implemented to achieve this.

“We have converted around 1,700 street lights to part night operation. These lights switch on at normal times at dusk but switch off around midnight, they then switch back on around 5am and remain on until dawn.

“The majority of these are on footpaths where there is an alternative lit route or rear access roads – when there are very low levels of pedestrian and vehicle use during the hours the lights are off.

“The street lighting team liaise with community safety teams who provided recorded crime data to enable informed decisions to be made.

“We also have around 8,000 street lights that incorporate dimming technology. These lights reduce their light output by up to 50% when traffic and pedestrian use is lower, typically midnight to 5am.

“Around three quarters of these lights are LED which use as little as 35% of the energy of traditional street lights, and we will be installing a further 30,000 LED street lights with dimming technology over the next six years”.

Calderdale Council’s head of planning and highways, Geoff Willerton, said: “We do not switch off any of our streetlights overnight, although all new lamps that we fit now dim between 10pm and 5.30am. By the end of this year around 1,500 out of our 31,000 street lamps will of the dimming type.

“We continue to work with police to maintain a safe environment in our communities at all times.”