Derbyshire County Council to spend £23m on LED street lights

More than £23m is to be spent converting a county’s street lights to LEDs to help cut electricity bills.

Derbyshire County Council approved plans to change 68,000 bulbs with LEDs, reducing energy costs and maintenance bills.

The Labour-led council said it is hoped it will start to make a saving in about seven years.

The Conservatives backed the plan but raised fears some lights will be left to go out and never changed.

68,000 bulbs
Councillor Joan Dixon, cabinet member responsible for street lights, said: “The overall cost will be about £23.3m. But of the lighting changes that we are going to replace, most of those we would have to replace anyway because they were coming to the end of their natural life.”

About 78% of the street lights, more than 68,000, will get a new LED bulb, light fitting and shade replaced when the old bulb goes out and a policy to turn off lights will be reversed.

The other 22% are more than 6m tall which the council said makes LED lights too expensive.

According to a report for the council’s cabinet the scheme would make savings of about £1.2m at current energy prices.

Barry Lewis, leader of the Conservative group, said he backed the idea but feared that when bulbs needed changing the process would be delayed and some might never be replaced.

Posted on Nov 27, 2014.