Derbyshire’s £23m LED street light upgrade continues to roll out
Work to switch to new-style street lights across Derbyshire is continuing to roll out across the county. More than 68,000 lights countywide will eventually have their current lights exchanged for LED fittings. Derbyshire County Council will also be replacing more than 22,000 of the older lamp posts at the same time.
This latest round of work in North East Derbyshire and Chesterfield is set to start at the end of the month.
The work, which starts on Monday 30 January 2017, is part of the borough councils £23m ‘Invest to Save’ programme. It will be carried out between 7am and 6pm and last for around two months.
The current orange sodium lights will have their bulbs, light fittings and shades replaced with new LED fittings.
Following consultation on the plans to change to LED lights, 90% of respondents said they were in favour of the plan.
Councillor Dean Collins, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Infrastructure, said:-
“We have had to change the way we maintain street lights because of huge Government cuts. Previously we would have changed all the lights in one area every three or four years before they started to go out in large numbers but reduced budgets mean we only have a small team of electricians and we can no longer afford to do this.
“The good news is that we are now in a position to progress with our LED replacement programme. It will take around three years to roll it out across the county but because these new lights are cheaper to maintain and more energy efficient they will help us reduce our carbon footprint and help us save around £1.2m.”
Councillor Collins added:-
“I understand concerns about street lights not working properly and thank residents for bearing with us while this replacement work progresses. It is a new way of doing things but I’d like to reassure people it will pay off in the future.
