A village will be plunged into darkness unless the parish council increases its tax on households, it is feared.

Residents in Hollingbourne could be charged between £20 and £30 more to keep 21 footpath lights on along Eyhorne Street and Culpeper Close following funding cuts.

Historically, the lights were paid for by the rural district council, which ceased to exist in 1974, when they became the responsibility of Maidstone Borough Council.

But after its grant was axed several years ago, the parish council has been struggling to afford them.

Now it has emerged that Kent County Council could foot the bill, but only if the village finds £50,000 to upgrade the lights.

Hollingbourne parish councillor John Cobbett said: “The lights don’t conform to KCC standards. They are too old and too far apart. But to upgrade them would cost £50,000, which is twice our annual expenditure.

“We just don’t have that sum lying around, and if we wanted to bring them up to conservation area standards it would cost around double.”

He said the only option left was to propose to increase the precept in April, up around 50% from the current £16,000.

He added: “We feel let down by MBC. I don’t think having the lights off is an option.

“They go right through Hollingbourne on a very busy main road. Newspaper reports show that accidents increase by a third where there are no streetlights. The pavements are also narrow.

“As MBC has been funding the footpath lighting in the village for a number of years you just assume it is going to be there.

“It doesn’t seem fair that residents would have to pay more for them now.”

An MBC spokesman said: “The concurrent functions grant ended two years ago and we introduced the parish services scheme after extensive consultation. This provides funding for services the borough council would normally provide and therefore doesn’t include funding for street lighting.”