Hundreds more Shropshire streetlights to be converted to LED lighting in March with thousands more to go
Many thousands of streetlights in Shropshire won't be converted to low energy LED lighting for months yet, the county council has admitted.
In the next 12 months a further 12,500 streetlights will be converted from conventional ‘sodium discharge’ lighting, with more than 700 due to be done by the end of March.
That target marks a huge acceleration in the programme to replace its entire stock of 20,000 lights. In the past TEN years it has converted a total of 7,900 lamps.
It’s estimated that the total cost of the conversion work will be £6.3m. Of this 44 per cent is being paid through an interest-free loan from Salix Finance.
Councillor Richard Marshall, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for highways, said: "Shropshire Council is responsible for 20,000 streetlights and all are being replaced with LEDs. This will save money for the council and for council tax payers, and reduce carbon emissions.
“Converting our remaining streetlights to LED lighting is something that will save us well over £1m a year once the conversion programme is complete.
“We’re currently working hard to tackle a backlog of antiquated lighting in need of repair, and the new LED lanterns will help to speed up this process and result in fewer faulty or failed streetlights in future.”
Hundreds more lamps in Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Market Drayton, Whitchurch and Shawbury are next in line for the revamp.
It is estimated that the conversion will save the council more than £1m a year in reduced energy and maintenance costs once the conversion is complete, and save almost 7,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
The number – and location – of lights set to be converted to LED lighting before Easter are listed here: newsroom.shropshire.gov.uk/2023/02/hundreds-more-streetlights-to-be-converted-to-led-lighting/
