Icon Underpass Lighting - Update

Will this underpass be dark for a 5th Christmas?

In the news..

Last week, The Comet reported on the campaign to get the lights re-instated in this underpass - read their article here - Charity's campaign to fix Stevenage underpass lights

Our Christmas Tree Conversations

On Sunday 7th December, volunteers from Cycling UK Stevenage Campaigns, took a Christmas tree to the Icon underpass. We put up the tree along with a reflective banner and decorated both with fairy lights. As twilight approached, these became the only lights in this underpass - which has been dark for over 4 years.(See more pictures in the gallery below)

As we waited in the underpass, many passers by stopped to talk to us - this is clearly an issue of great concern to local residents. People shared their own concerns, told us about reports that they had made and spoke of a general frustration that nothing has been done.

The quotes below are from emails that 3 women we spoke to have sent us:

I’m a walker and a cyclist, and every time I go through that underpass I’m on guard. It’s dark, enclosed, and full of corners where someone could easily jump out. There have been times when kids were hanging out under the ledge, and once someone was standing in the shadowed corner on their phone — and each time it’s made me tense.

Yesterday was the clearest example. I approached the underpass around 3:30pm — still daylight — and saw two people lingering there. My immediate reaction was to brace myself. And this is coming from a New Yorker who knows how to handle herself. But that underpass feels different. There are simply too many blind spots and too many opportunities for something to happen.

I’ve lived in Stevenage for years and I still don’t understand why basic safety measures haven’t been put in place. Proper lighting would make a huge difference. How difficult is it to install lights in an area that is completely dark and isolated, especially over a stretch that long? It’s not a minor walkway — it’s a cycle and pedestrian route used by many people.

I genuinely worry that it will take an incident for action to be taken, and I don’t want to see that happen to me or anyone else.

I sometimes need to walk from the town centre or the rail station to get home - Fishers Green. I actively avoid walking along the path outside the new Hill Lytton development as the underpass is not safe. There are no lights, there are dark areas where someone could hide and the ramp up to the new apartments is part hidden - making it an ideal place for someone to hide from view. There is also no way for anyone above to see if there was an attack.

I deem it too risky to walk home that way, so I have to take a detour through the Old Town, not ideal as it is further.

I complained to Herts council in 2022 and in November 2025 about the lack of lighting. Both times my request was closed with no explanation. When I subsequently called Herts Highway group the person I spoke to said that the engineers had closed the request but had not provided any documentation as to why they had closed it.

I also noted this problem in the recent Herts police safer streets survey.

We have also had this video filmed by local residents shared with us - Icon Underpass filmed at night time

Who can fix this problem?

The Comet contacted both Stevenage Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council and then wrote in the article:

Hertfordshire County Council and Stevenage Borough Council have both said it is not their responsibility as they do not own the underpass.

Hill - the developer of the Icon site - say:

To clarify, the responsibility for the lighting in the underpass lies with the Council, rather than with Hill.

Hill the developer have told Cycling UK that temporary lighting will be put up again as soon as possible. They previously put up motion sensitive lighting in June but it was removed in October when the building site hoarding that it was attached to was taken down.

What needs to happen now?

A few minutes walk away, in Stevenage Town Centre, a Christmas tree sponsored by Hill stands tall in the Town Square opposite the Stevenage Borough Council offices.
Under the nearby Lytton Way / Fairlands Way roundabout there are 3 cycleway underpasses which have recently been renovated by Stevenage Borough Council & Hertfordshire County Council in partnership. They have bright lights and colourful murals; one shows Stevenage Women and another Pride. (See the pictures in the gallery below) The third underpass at this nearby roundabout shows a "Stevenage Together" mural.

Our request

We are sending emails sharing the information on this update to Hill along with councillors and officers from both Hertfordshire Borough Council and Stevenage Borough Council.

The request from Cycling UK Stevenage and local residents alike is now simply: