Thousands of Liverpool’s ageing street lights are to be replaced in a programme which will produce millions of pounds of savings to the city.
And the scheme will deliver major environmental benefits to the city including reduced carbon emission and night time pollution.
The council’s cabinet is to consider a recommendation that more than 20,000 of the existing yellow sodium lights, which have concrete columns, be replaced with LED lights on steel columns.
The scheme will cost a total £7m but is seen as an investment which will bring significant savings, estimated at £2.7m over its first five years,
It is intended to replace 12,000 of the existing lights during 2014/15 with the residential areas of the waterfront being targeted first. This is is an area which has the greatest impact from salt and rain, causing the street lights to have the highest failure rate and the highest costs in replacement.
A second phase, during 2015/6 will involve installing 8,000 LED lights in residential areas and replacing 1380 older lights along key corridor routes.
In each of these phases there will be an 82% reduction in energy consumption, producing savings of £533,000 per year.
There will also be a reduction in carbon emissions of approximately 1400 tonnes in each phase which as well as being environmentally beneficial will also save £46,000 per year
On-going maintenance costs will also be reduced by more than £100,000 per year.
“This is good news in every respect,” said Councillor Tim Moore, cabinet member for transport and climate change. “It means we will have improved lighting levels where we are introducing the new lights, making those areas safer.
“We will be a greener city as the level of CO2 emissions will be significantly reduced and night-time pollution will be cut.
“There will be long-term financial benefits to council taxpayers with energy and maintenance costs being significantly reduced. We will be using capital funding to pay for this programme but we really are investing in the city’s infrastructure to make considerable savings.”
A detailed assessment of the city’s remaining 36,000 street lights will be carried out with a view to them being replaced over a number of years.
If the programme is approved, implementation will start shortly with the first phase taking about eight months to complete.
The recommendation will be considered by the cabinet on 21 February.
