Wirral to keep all street lights on

A new street-lighting strategy in Wirral will ensure that all street lights are kept on in the borough while also delivering better energy efficiency and long-term budget savings.

A meeting of full council approved the strategy last night (20 October 2014) and this will see Wirral investing in new systems that will deliver a reliable and efficient lighting network.

A key element of the strategy will be the replacement of around 7,000 of the most inefficient street lights with brand new LED units. It will also mean the council invests in extending its central management system, which will give greater control over the network and help to identify faults as soon as they occur meaning they can be fixed promptly.

Cllr Stuart Whittingham, cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: “The introduction of the new strategy means we will be able to replace our most inefficient and expensive street lights with new LED units. It will also mean we can widen the use of our central management system that will allow us to dim some lights through the night, rather than turn them off altogether.

“Investing this money now will save us money in the long term as we will have a better and more efficient lighting network with lower carbon emissions. This has become possible now, as LED lanterns have come down in price in the past year, and are now more reliable that traditional lighting units, with manufacturers offering up to 12 years’ guarantees.

“We are happy that, due to good budget management, we've been able to find the proposed savings that would have been achieved by last year's option to switch off some street lights from other areas without needing to implement any new cuts to services."