New street lights set to save Barnsley Council £1.2m per year

Barnsley Council approved a £4.2 million programme of upgrades to street lights along main roads in the borough in 2019, and work began in October.

By March 2020, 7,000 lanterns had been upgraded, with works put on hold due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

The original funding of £4.2M was put forward on an invest to save basis with an annual, year on year saving of around £500,000.

With a guaranteed lifespan of 10 years for individual LED units, and an expected lifespan of 25 years, the council says this investment will return around three times the initial project cost over the anticipated life of the asset.

Councillor Chris Lamb, Barnsley Council’s cabinet spokesperson for place (environment and transportation), said: “There are a huge number of benefits to replacing our old fashioned street lighting, including reduced light pollution, reduced carbon emissions, reduced maintenance costs, reduced disposal costs for the old lamps which contain harmful mercury, reduced fuel and the accompanying pollution while travelling to service those old lamps, and many more.

“The biggest reason we’ve done this though is the huge reduction in the amount of electricity we use, and the cost savings and environmental benefits of this. It helps protect the council and local taxpayers from the impact of increased electricity costs in the future.

“Many councils have had to dim or even switch off street lighting to save money, and I’m delighted we’ve been able to find another solution to this problem with all the many benefits it brings.”

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