South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 27/10/2015

The introduction of new state-of-the-art LED street lighting being rolled out across South Gloucestershire is delivering even better than expected cost and carbon emissions savings.

The project has so far seen around 4,000 new lights installed over the past 18 months, saving around £257,000 from the council’s electricity bill and cutting CO₂ emissions by 1,153 tonnes.

Ultimately the project will see the replacement of 30,000 lanterns with the aim to save 60 per cent of the annual cost of energy and carbon emissions. So far, lights have been replaced in Hanham and on some major ‘A’ roads through neighbourhoods including Chipping Sodbury, Coalpit Heath, Emersons Green, Filton, Thornbury and Yate.

In addition to the new energy efficient lanterns, new technology is being fitted to street lamps that allows the council to more accurately control light levels and lighting up times, using innovative GPS technology.

South Gloucestershire is an early adopter of LED street lighting technology, which allows individual lights to be controlled using GPS. The system includes mechanisms to continually monitor, evaluate and improve the performance of the new lights to ensure South Gloucestershire gets the very best and latest technology as the programme rolls out.

Chair of the Planning, Transportation and Strategic Environment Committee, Cllr Brian Allinson, said: “South Gloucestershire is at the leading edge of this new technology. These days the light bulb is not so humble and by making this change we are saving considerable amounts of money, reducing carbon emissions and protecting jobs, I think it is a truly enlightened approach.”

“The new lanterns cost more per unit, but last longer and are ultimately cheaper in the long run as they don’t need replacing and maintaining as often. We are also saving money by recycling the old lighting stock; as lanterns are replaced with the new energy efficient models, we are able to reuse the old fittings as spares and replacements in areas the rollout of new technology has not yet reached.

“We had a choice to push this change through in a relatively short time, but we have chosen to rollout over 10 years instead of five. This allows us to integrate the renewal program with existing maintenance planning, meaning less disruption for residents, securing a number of jobs at the council, as well as allowing us to work with suppliers as they continually improve the technology. This means that we will always get the latest developments installed in South Gloucestershire.”

The current phase of the roll-out is focussed on Cribbs Causeway, with Bradley Stoke due to see their street light upgrade beginning at the end of this year.

The project has recently been recognised by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) and was shortlisted as a finalist for “Best Efficiency and Transformation Initiative” at the 2015 national awards ceremony in Swansea.