Shropshire street lights to become LEDs in £8.5m project

The move to convert street lights to LED will cut energy and maintenance costs to Shropshire Council by more than £1.2m each year, and will save almost 3,000 tons of CO2 over the same period.

About 70 per cent of the money for the job would come from an interest-free loan from Salix Finance, with the remaining 30 per cent set to be funded through the council's highways capital budget.

A decision on the plans will be made by the council's cabinet in September.

Savings all round

Steve Davenport, cabinet member for highways and parking, said: "I want us to conserve energy, helping the environment for future generations while keeping the lights on in the most important areas.

“Converting our remaining streetlights to LED lighting is something that would save us well over £1m a year once the conversion programme is complete, but also saving energy and CO2, and ensuring that we have street lighting that is efficient and fit for purpose – which is great news all round.

“It was always the intention that further LED conversions would be carried out when value for money could be demonstrated. However, until recently the cost of LED lighting was prohibitive and didn’t provide value for money.

“During the last few years the cost of LED lighting has reduced significantly and in some cases by as much as 50 per cent making the installation of LED lighting more affordable.

“I now look forward to taking a report to cabinet in September and asking colleagues to approve the council’s contribution towards this important scheme.”

Climate change

It is one of a number of projects that could be carried out in the county in an effort to combat climate change and improve air quality.

Councillor Peter Nutting, leader of the council, said: "We're aware of climate change and we do acknowledge it.

"We're looking at solar farms in one or two parts of the county. We're talking about changing the street lights.

"One thing that also comes up a lot is air quality. There are two hotspots in Shrewsbury – Chester Street and near the station – that are slightly higher than other areas of Shropshire, but in terms of national levels they are far below anything that causes any concern.

"That is being monitored, but at the last count it had slightly improved."

Carbon footprint

The council said it is looking at a whole range of ideas for how it can reduce its carbon footprint, including across transport and construction.

Schemes so far include hybrid vehicles that staff at the council can book out to use instead of their own petrol cars.

And the 490 solar panels on the roof of the Shirehall has now generated more than 250,500kWh since installation, the equivalent of watching television for 2,505,580 hours.

The panels currently reduce the councils electricity costs by £16,000 each year, with a further £1,000 from the feed-in-tarriff payments. The total cost was £180,000 and it is expected that they will pay for themselves in about 10 years.

Similar work began in the Telford & Wrekin Council area in 2017, and was completed earlier this year. Over 20,000 lights were replaced as part of the work.