The move is among the authority's financial plans which have been slammed as "deplorable", raising fears it could lead to more accidents on the roads and break-ins.

But county council bosses say it will help "achieve value for money" though officers admit it will be "harder to achieve" targets for reducing street lighting outages, which they are currently failing to meet.

The authority also plans on painting numbers on lampposts and are urging residents to call in more when they see flickering lights quoting the number on the light.

Coun Matthew Tomlinson, the authority's cabinet member for sustainable development, said: "It is important that as part of the budget setting process we investigate new ways of working to deliver the same level of service for less."

But Coun David Whipp, the Liberal Democrat leader at the county council, said: "By cutting inspections we are going to risk more people being injured."

The county council maintains around 159,000 street lights by carrying out regular inspections.

Inspecting them currently costs around £400,000 a year.

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