Last Tuesday West Felton Parish Council agreed to upgrade their remaining street lights to LED street lights.
I am grateful that colleagues supported my proposition to carry out the upgrades. I only wish Shropshire Council were so enlightened. Instead, their light upgrades will take 36 years.
The upgrades will be paid for from the CIL neighbourhood fund. CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) is money provided by housing developers to support/provide infrastructure in a community to support those houses.
West Felton LED street light with an old Sodium light behind
Getting the lights upgraded has been a no-brainer for me because:
- The money comes from a developer (and we already have the money in the bank) so there is no spending impact on the Council Tax.
- Also by carrying out the upgrades, we cut the maintenance bill because the lights last a lot longer. This reduces the impact of the lights on the Council Tax.
- The existing sodium lights are being phased out next year
- Finally, the upgrades cut our energy bills by 75% (based on our existing lights that have already been upgraded to LED).
It has been a long process – probably longer than it should have been. (See my previous posts) I suggested the upgrades in the summer of 2017. Members rightly wanted to see figures. I calculated estimates for the upgrade a year ago. Then the sum for the upgrade was added to the budget in the new year. A lengthy process to obtain quotes followed… frustrated by no response or delayed quotes. Having obtained sufficient quotes we have now resolved to make the upgrades.
The upgrades will consist of replacing the sodium luminaries to LED luminaries. We still have some concrete columns that have been sleeved. These will be upgraded to new longer life columns.
We also agreed to support the residents of Queens Head by exploring the options of expanding our lights there. I have suggested 3. The options for connecting the electricity supply are now being costed. Hopefully, this won’t be an obstacle but we can also cover those light from CIL money.
More details on the LED street lights upgrade will appear on here and on West Felton Parish Council’s website and the parish magazine soon.