Major £10m change for Coventry street lights will be 'transformative'

[dutchman]

Cllr Patricia Hetherton said the £10m investment in street lighting is set to be debated by Coventry City Council



Around £10m is set to be spent on upgrading street lighting in Coventry. Cllr Patricia Hetherton said the 'transformative' project will be debated next Tuesday (December 10).

Plans to upgrade street lighting in the city with LED technology will cost more than £10m. Councillors say the new bulbs will allow them to 'cut costs' amid increasing 'financial pressures.'

Over 29,000 individual lights are set to be replaced by LEDs. It would represent a 'major overhaul' of the existing system, Coventry City Council said.

In the last financial year, the cost of lighting up city streets amounted to £3.4m. It is believed the new LED lighting will use almost half the energy currently used, resulting in a yearly saving of £900,000.

Councillors say the new bulbs will also reduce carbon emissions in the city by 1,200 tonnes every year, which is the equivalent of taking 268 cars off the road. An LED bulb has already been installed in Hillfields and is said to have received 'positive feedback.'

Cllr Patricia Hetherton, Cabinet Member for City Services, said: “New LED bulbs will enable us to cut costs as well as reduce our carbon footprint, and the smart technology in a fifth of the lanterns will allow us to monitor important environmental data across the city. It is another example of our commitment to reducing carbon alongside the rollout of an all-electric bus fleet in 2025 and the fact that we have more on-street change points than any city outside London.”

She added: “Like every authority, we are having to make some really tough decisions due to financial pressures. It is a situation that requires us to think creatively about doing things differently, and that is exactly what we are doing here. We are investing in the short term to not only provide a better service but also a financially efficient one.”

[rebbonk]

They are in financial difficulty, yet want to spend £10m to save £0.9m/year? That simply doesn't make financial sense.