Street Lights Turned Off To Save Money

After reports that many councils - including Dorset - will be turning off streetlights in some places to save money, Heart's found out it WON’T be happening in Hampshire.

The county council says it's currently replacing all its lights so they'll be more energy-efficient. The new street lights will result in significant energy savings and reduced carbon emissions.  The project also includes introducing remote monitoring technology to enable the lights to be dimmed and the Council Council’s policy presently is to introduce a 25% dimming between 12.00 midnight and 5am when the new lighting is in place in each area.  This follows trials completed earlier to find the best options.

The award-winning project will have a wide range of benefits, including less light pollution and clearer night skies, targeted lighting in areas of high crime, safer streets and a minimum target reduction of 15% of our energy consumption over the first five years . This is due to the replacement of the old orange sodium lamps with energy efficient white ‘natural’ lighting which is directed downwards on to roads and pavements which also reduces light pollution, meaning the night skies are clearer.

The introduction of remote lighting management will also improve the performance and flexibility of street lighting levels.

Councillor Mel Kendal, Executive Member for Environment said:

 “There are no plans to switch off any street lights in Hampshire.  The programme to replace or upgrade the street lights, in partnership with Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) will see us introduce the latest innovative lighting technology to give us more control over lighting levels and we will explore options to minimise the use of energy.

“Good quality lighting is proven to have a positive impact on road accident reduction, crime prevention and the fear of crime. Work started in April this year and when the new dimming technology is introduced, the lights can be adjusted at different times of night and in different areas.”

The project scooped Best Local Government Project Team 2010 at the Public Private Finance Awards in May this year.