Plymouth to begin street lighting upgrade

Plymouth City Council will begin an 18-month citywide street lighting replacement programme this week, as part of its energy and carbon saving measures.

The £8 million project, which will see nearly 29,000 street lights in the city replaced with energy efficient light emitting diode (LED) lamps, will see the Council’s energy bill reduced by over £1 million a year.

The lamps will be installed by Cartledge Limited, the Council’s street lighting maintenance contractor.

Streets in the north-west of the city will be the first to receive the new lights, which give a colour of light similar to that of moonlight. Installation will then continue in stages across the north of the city, working from west to east, before moving to the southern half of the city.

Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “As well as being more economical, the new lamps will have additional social benefits. The light they emit is whiter and clearer, which means a wider spectrum of colours can be seen and it is easier to distinguish details such as facial features. As a result, we hope that the new street lights will make people feel safer.

“White light has been shown to improve visibility for drivers, who can detect roadside movement faster and at a greater distance, which improves road safety. The street lights also direct light downwards, which reduces the amount of light pollution into people’s houses, as well as the night sky.”

In most cases the LED units will be flatter and squarer than existing lamps but in areas with heritage lighting, care will be taken to use lamps that are similar in appearance to the existing ones.

Plymouth will be one of the first cities in the UK to replace all of its street lights with LED units, but it has been able to benefit from the experience of other councils such as Birmingham and Gateshead, which have installed them extensively.

The Council carried out an LED street lighting trial in February 2013, when 100 lamps were replaced across 14 roads in the West Park area of the city. Feedback from the trial showed that 73 per cent of residents preferred the new lights.

Further information will shortly be available at www.plymouth.gov.uk/streetlighting.