Staffordshire County Council will be fitting dimming technology to around 15,000 street lights as it aims to save £8 million over the next 16 years on its street lighting operation.
The county also says it will work with any parish or town council that would like to reduce some of its lighting overnight.
A review carried out by the county council has revealed that £8 million could be saved over the next 16 years by installing hi-tech dimming equipment in street lighting.
The county says that 82 per cent of People’s Panel members who were consulted (a group that gives the county its views on a range of issues) either agreed or did not oppose proposals to dim street lights from late evening to early morning.
However, the county says it will monitor the situation as the changes are rolled out and will review the dimming proposals if any adverse effects are noted. The plans will be discussed by the county’s Enterprise, Environment and Scrutiny Committee on 1st May. Locations where street lights will be dimmed have not been revealed.
County Councillor Mike Maryon said: “We have carried out a detailed review of our entire street lighting operation and have decided not to introduce a blanket night-time switch-off of street lighting.
“We will, however, look to upgrade our columns by either fitting or retro-fitting special dimming technology which will save £8 million over the next 16 years. The robust contract that the county council initially put in place in 2003 has allowed us to do this. By installing excellent quality lighting initially we are now able to simply upgrade the electronics rather than having to invest in brand new equipment.
“Other councils have already introduced this system with excellent results and we are keen to follow their example of best practice for the benefit of Staffordshire’s residents.”
Communities could ask for their street lights to be switched off from midnight until 6am when traffic and pedestrian flows are at the lowest. Even if the lights are dimmed, the county says they would still meet the Government’s guidelines in terms of brightness.
Since 2003 a total of 30,000 new street lights have been installed across Staffordshire. Under the plans, almost half of these would be retro-fitted with the specialist technology.
A further 27,000 street lights would be replaced before 2028, the majority of which would be upgraded with the new equipment. The plans would see £3.67 million saved due a reduction in energy costs and £4.45 million on maintenance costs.
1 comment
Jonty
This would be great for astronomy as well as the savings, however I hope try use some common sense for which lights will be dimmed, some areas need to have them for the safety I’d imagine.