Agenda item

This report provides an update on progress to upgrade District Council operated streetlights to energy efficient LED units and considerations for ongoing management of lamps.

Councillor Patsy Ellis, Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste introduced the report. 

South Kesteven District Council was responsible for managing a total of 3893 streetlights within the district all of which were funded from the Council’s General Fund.  These lights were predominantly for providing lighting to footways, as opposed to the separate and much more significant stock of streetlights provided for highways in the district, which were managed by Lincolnshire County Council.  

Following a Council meeting on 28 November 2023 it was agreed to approve an allocation of £1m to accelerate the replacement of Council operated streetlights with LED lamps. 

The invitation to tender had been issued on theYPO Highways and Electrical Installations framework to find a contractor to complete the LED upgrades. Based on the deadline for interested suppliers to submit a response, evaluation and the approval of contract award by Cabinet in February, the contract start date was targeted for mid-February 2024.  The programme was designed to be delivered as swiftly as possible so as to maximise energy savings. 

An ongoing area of work was to improve the information The Council had on its streetlighting stock in terms of exact location of lamps, type and condition. The majority of lamps under the Council’s responsibility were now plotted on Statmap and all lamps would be plotted ready for the contract start date in order to provide the successful contractor with the most up-to-date information.  Plans were underway to also provide this information to town and parish councils once the mapping of lamps has completed. 

The current Street Lighting Policy of 2018 stated three objectives for the Council’s Street lighting stock:  

• Ensure existing lighting stock was maintained in accordance with current electrical regulations to ensure it meets legal, health and safety requirements. • To follow 

good practice guidance, in order to further reduce the risk to staff, contractors and the public.  

• To ensure South Kesteven District Council streetlights provided illumination during the hours of darkness.  

The Street Lighting Policy also stated that the Council’s stock of streetlights should be effectively managed to ensure that it was energy efficient. 

The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee were updated on the Council’s current position on maintaining illumination during hours of darkness and that 
deviation from that would require a formal consultation exercise involving the public as well as other public bodies including town and parish councils and the Police and Crime Commissioner.  

The current specification for the lamps to be upgraded to LED included provision for:  

• Replacement dimmable LED luminaires  

• Photocell controllers to activate lamp automatically at dusk and switch off at dawn  

• NEMA socket to facilitate future connection to a networked system 

Energy savings through moving to LED lamps were significant.  An upgraded low-pressure sodium lamp to an LED lamp with thecapacity to dim illumination to 50% 
of full illumination from midnight to 6AM would have a typical energy saving of 63%.  

By switching lamps off completely for six hours during the night, up to an additional 12% saving can be expected, bringing the total potential energy saving to 75%. 

Assuming the Council adopt part-night illumination, a midnight switch-off resulted in expected additional energy savings of £37,242.  With energy costs appearing to be approaching their highest costs with no further dramatic increases expected, if the

unit cost of electricity did decrease in future years this would reduce the payback on investment. 

Options for a CMS had been explored as part of the procurement of the previous programme of LED upgrades, and barriers to implementation were found including:  

• Ability to effectively transmit signal and operate a CMS system - the Council’s stock of streetlights is unevenly distributed, with some villages in the district having fewer than 5 lamps.  

• Cost of running a CMS system in comparison to the number of streetlights 
operated – the smaller number of lights operated by the Council limited the savings that can be made through remote control.  

Any new CMS would be most impactful with a policy of part-night illumination, in order to maximise energy and cost savings through the system. Such a system had a higher degree of flexibility although bespoke systems would have a financial implication of approximately £900,000.  Within the present policy of all night illumination with dimming, there were limited changes to be made to levels of  illumination that would make a significant saving to justify the level of investment for use of a CMS. 

Members raised the following points during discussion: 

•      What was the cost of the public consultation likely to be? 

•      Safety implications had to be considered for pedestrians. 

•      How was it that some of the lighting belonged to South Kesteven District Council and the rest owned by Lincolnshire County Council? 

•      The option to switch off lighting in some rural areas and remote footpaths was a concern.   

•      Biodiversity was an important factor.  Colour of the lighting and the effects on wildlife at night such as bats had to be considered. 

The Sustainability and Climate Change Officer confirmed that ownership of streetlights within the district was a decades-old legacy arrangement that related to the Council’s housing stock, some of which is now privately owned.  The Officer continued that there were financial implications and difficulties managing a lighting system in rural areas where the lights were spread out.  Some villages had as few as five lamps, for example.  The costs for a CMS would need to be explored in further detail.  Approval had been established for LED lighting only. 

Councillor Patsy Ellis, Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste confirmed coloured and directional lighting were possible but further costs would be applicable. 

The Head of Corporate Policy, Performance and Climate Change confirmed that the contract was already out for tender and procurement, due to be confirmed in February 2024 so any substantial change in cost would need to be considered if a different light specification was requested by Members. 

It was proposed, seconded and AGREED  

That the Committee:  

1. Noted the updates regarding the procurement process for the next stage of the upgrade programme of LED streetlights.  

2. Discussed the Street Lighting Policy and following the delegation from Cabinet, recommended that the option (1) to implement pre-programmed dimming between midnight and 6AM. 

3.  Recommended that the Cabinet Members were presented with the details of the implications and costs of providing, where appropriate, the wildlife  friendly lighting. 

(The Committee agreed to stop for a short break at this point)