WEST Sussex residents will no longer be in the dark when streetlights will switch on an hour earlier from Sunday, October 25 – when the clocks go back.

People up early in the morning have questioned why street lights are not coming on although it is dark in October, before the clocks go back.

West Sussex County Council says the timings of the streetlights are factory set and cannot be altered.

The council, which instigated a part-time lighting regime in residential roads, says lights in part-night areas come on according to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Cabinet member for highways and transport John O’Brien said: “This is an issue which comes up every year.”

“When the clocks go back near the end of the month everyone will notice the lights coming on earlier.”

Part-night lighting in the county runs from dusk to middle of the night and from 5.30am to dawn, although it may vary by 20 minutes either way.

All-night lighting in town centres and main distributor roads are lit from dusk to dawn, but the lighting dims by 40 per cent from the middle of the night until 5.30am.

It then reverts to full lighting level until dawn.