New street lights save council £8m in energy costs

A scheme to replace every street light across the district of Bradford has saved the council about £8m since it was launched, a meeting has heard.

Bradford Council announced plans to replace 56,500 lights and 15,600 worn-out columns with LED lighting in 2018, at a cost of £45m.

A council meeting has been told that although hundreds of lights are still to be upgraded as part of the work, savings had already been made to the authority's annual energy bill.

Allun Preece, principal engineer for the project, told councillors at the meeting on Thursday that it had so far been "quite successful".

The new lights can be dimmed or illuminated remotely by council staff and will also notify the team when there is a fault.

The scheme is also expected to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being released as a result of energy consumption by 6,000 tonnes a year when complete, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Preece admitted the lights did divide opinion among residents.

"Some people say the lights aren't bright enough and they can't see their key to put in their door," he said.

"But street lights are only meant to light the highways and the pavements. These are better at lighting what is meant to be lit."

Councillor Julie Lintern said: "I've had some people say there is a warm glow, but others say it is like the lights on a football pitch."

In Ilkley, the street lighting energy costs are now £44,875, compared to £164,611 before the new lights were installed.

In Keighley West, the annual energy cost for street lighting has fallen from £272,251 to £60,091.

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