Agenda item

Officers from the Economy and Infrastructure Directorate had been invited to attend the meeting to provide an update on Street Lighting, in particular on progress with both the LED roll-out and concrete column survey which was first discussed at the 7 March 2018 Panel meeting.

The Panel received a presentation, copies of which were circulated during the Meeting.

Members were reminded that the Street Lighting Service was led by the Council and delivered by Prysmian, the Council’s Lighting Maintenance contractor who was responsible for maintaining all of the County’s street lights. The Council’s street lighting service was supplemented where required by the current street lighting Contractor, Prysmian and Jacobs. The support given by the two external suppliers included assistance with specific project management, undertaking new designs and additional lighting engineer capacity.

Officers reported that over the last twelve months, progress had been made in several areas:

Concrete Column Survey and LED Replacement Schedule

As of August 2017, the Council maintained 49,819 lighting columns, with 10,884 of these shown as being of concrete construction, probably from the 1960’s and 1970’s.

During 2018, a detailed survey was undertaken to rank the condition of the concrete columns, from 1 (good condition) to 5 (requires immediate attention).  326 were either in category 4 or 5.

All category 5 concrete columns had now been replaced with a new steel column and an LED lantern and all category 4 concrete columns would be replaced by the end of April 2019.  The remainder of concrete columns would be scheduled for replacement in line with the County’s footway reconstruction programme if possible. 

As a result of the completed works, the Council’s LED asset was around 22%.  Members also learned that low-pressure sodium (SOX) lamps were now no longer being manufactured, however, technology was developing quickly and retro-fit lamps were available to directly replace an old SOX lamp in an existing lantern with an LED lamp.

Electric Vehicle Charging Points

Members were interested in learning more about electric charging points and whether existing columns could be converted to charging points. The Panel was advised that it was not feasible to convert existing columns as it would mean a complete re-wire of the entire lighting network to cope with the increased load.  In addition, there was a risk of exposed cable-ends being cut and stolen and the majority of columns were currently at the rear of the footway resulting in trailing cables when in use.

General Discussion Points

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

·         Street Light Part Night Switch Off, which was introduced from 2014, had resulted in around two out of three residential SOX lights being switched off between midnight and 6am.  The reduction in energy and ultimately cost savings had been beneficial (NB major traffic routes which were exempt from the scheme). 

·         In answer to a question about whether there had been an increase in crime as a result of the Switch Off, Officers reported that they believed that crime hadn’t increased, however, it was agreed that the situation would be clarified with to the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner

·         It was confirmed that where the Council were responsible for column maintenance, no area was ever completely dark; 1 in 3 lights would remain on

·         A Member asked whether motion sensors (PIR) could be installed on columns, to be informed that yes, they could and there were local examples of this.  Further information was requested on this topic, especially for other Local Authorities taking this approach

·         Furthermore, Members were keen to know more about whether the internet could provide further advances, similar to changes in maintaining the home with technology.  Officers reported that a central control system would be needed and would be more suited to new estates with 5G fast broadband connectivity

·         SOX bulbs were now obsolete, so any bulb replacements were now LED, which increased the life expectancy of the bulb from around 4 or 5 years for SOX to around 15 years for LED. This however, meant that bulk maintenance lamp changes had been temporarily suspended due to the prohibitive cost implications of replacing all of the SOX lamps that were scheduled to be changed with complete new LED lanterns.  However, by ceasing bulk lamp change, the objective of ensuring an average of 98% of lamps working at any one time would no longer be achievable

·         In relation to energy savings, it was reported that LED bulbs ran at 14W compared to SOX at 58W

·         Those concrete columns which were inspected as category 3 would need to be inspected again after 2 years

·         A Member, not on the Panel, enquired whether Section 106 funding was used for lighting improvements, to be informed that it was if funding was available

·         During 2019/20 it was hoped that the Council’s LED asset would rise to 35%, however, this was dependent on whether individual lamps needed replacing, which was less efficient than bulk replacement in an area

·         It was noted that the number of faults reported had doubled, but Officers agreed with the Panel that communication with residents could be improved and perhaps an electronic interface could be investigated.  The Panel was concerned that this lack of communication could taint the reputation of the Council

·         When asked whether the Council’s Lighting Team was staffed sufficiently, Officers reported that it was difficult for the Council to recruit Lighting Engineers, however, resourcing was not a factor in in terms of effective communication with residents

·         A question was asked about whether the County Council was getting the best energy price to achieve value for money.  It was confirmed that the Council’s energy was commissioned from West Mercia Energy and Officers would check the price tariff and report back to the Panel.  It was confirmed that a saving of £350,000 was expected this financial year and £100,000 for 2019/20

·         The Panel was pleased to hear that although it was not possible to retrofit columns to become electric charging points, some funding had been secured to trial a 3kWh charge from a newly installed column

·         Members believed that with advances in technology, electric charging was an area which had opportunities for the future and some District Councils were already looking at this, for example in car parks, which Members felt would be more comprehensive if County and District colleagues worked together and urged Officers to consider this.

It was agreed that:

·         Further information would be sought from the Police and Crime Commissioner about crime during part night switch off hours

·         A briefing note on advances in technology in relation to motion sensors (PIR) and examples of other Local Authorities using this technology would be prepared

·         It was confirmed that Officers would check with West Mercia Energy, the price tariff paid by the County Council for energy and report back to the Panel.