VILLAGERS have hit out at the idea of funding streetlights they don’t want, claiming their council tax is already used to pay for services in nearby towns.

Tendring Council has held a public consultation into whether a cashpot of £160,000 should be used to pay for streetlights across the district to be switched back on between midnight and 5am after Essex County Council turned them off as a way of cutting costs.

If it goes ahead, future funding for the lights could mean a rise in council tax.

But while residents in Harwich and Clacton are campaigning for the lights to be switched back on, others in Tendring claim they are happy without them.

Lawford Parish councillor Brian Rolfe said it was unfair for villagers and other towns to foot the bill for switching the streetlights back on.

He said parish councils already pay for village lights as well as services such as grass cutting and playing fields but residents then have to pay out council tax to Tendring Council, funding those same services for places such as Harwich.

“It’s most unfair," he said.