New solar lights to line River Severn in Shrewsbury's Quarry
A plan to install solar lights along the River Severn in Shrewsbury has been approved.
Tests began on solar lights on loan from OG2 Lighting at the start of the year to see how the tree canopy and sap in the Quarry could affect the output.
Shrewsbury Town Council has now had the test results back and has decided to go ahead with plans to install about 20 lights from the Hercules statue to Greyfriars Bridge.
The lights would be operated by a PIR motion sensor system, illuminating when a person comes near and switching off after a set time.
The town council’s recreation and leisure committee discussed the solar lights at its latest meeting on Wednesday.
Shrewsbury Town Council clerk Helen Ball said: “If you walk from Hercules to Greyfriars there are only one or two lights.
“Members asked us to see how much it would be to put lights in and we realised it would be just short of £500,000 to put 25 lights in.
“We then started to investigate if we could use solar lights but the trees have a really strong cover in the summer.”
She added: “We worked with a local organisation to put a trial light in to see if it would work.
“It’s not on permanently but once you get in close proximity to it, it picks up that you’re there.
“We’re looking at putting out a tender in the autumn to get about 20 lights between Hercules and Greyfriars.
“It’s going to be a long process but we’ve got to start somewhere.”
Using this system it is estimated that the lamp would illuminate fully for 17 days from a full charge.
A full charge is approximately 10 hours’ trickle charge from an average amount of daylight.
It has previously been said that the lights would improve safety for joggers, cyclists and late-night walkers.
Safety along the River Severn has been a high-profile subject with a number of deaths in recent years.
